People in Bahrain have once again been invited for the upcoming edition of the Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) early next year.

A calendar of events for the 13th edition of the extravaganza, to be held from January 24 to February 24, was revealed during a roadshow at the Sheraton Bahrain Hotel.

DSF chief operating officer Ibrahim Saleh revealed the key attractions and elaborated on the new strategy of DSF, aimed at positioning the event on par with the progress of Dubai.

"While the global theme of 'One World One Family One Festival' will be predominant in DSF 2008 as in previous editions. We now have a new marketing campaign, 'Fifth Season'," he said. "The campaign is designed to complement the other four seasons of the year," he said. "A Fifth Season will descend on Dubai to fill it with festivities."

He said DSF wants to be more focused on the shopping aspect.

"We have planned several initiatives that will be implemented in two to three years aiming to enhance the shopping experience and take it to a new dimension."

He said that according to the new strategy the private sector would be responsible for organising more than 70 per cent of the entertainment events while the DSF office will play a pivotal role in planning, marketing, and promoting them.

He said visitors from Bahrain had a travel advantage over other non-GCC countries due to its proximity to the UAE and DSF welcomed all Bahraini residents to Dubai where they could expect amazing shopping promotions and a wide range of international brands.

The DSF delegation also included the DSF public relations and communications manager Rana Ghazi, human resources manager Laila Al Jassim and DSF events co-ordinator Mohammed Abdulrahman Ahli.

Emirates Airline Bahrain area manager Abbas Haji was also present on the occasion.