Changi Airport – a focal point for the Chinese New Year celebration!

Visit Changi Airport this Chinese New Year and join in the festivities at the various dining and retail outlets – the majority of which will remain open throughout the festive period.

In other words, it will be business as usual for more than 80% or about 40 dining and retail outlets at Changi's public areas over the Chinese New Year holiday, offering different cuisines to visitors. In addition, visitors can kick start the Year of the Rabbit on an auspicious note with attractive savings on their shopping purchases – with the return of Changi's popular "Save 2 X 7% GST on Shopping" promotion.

Dining establishments that will remain open throughout the 3 to 6 February holiday period include popular food and beverage outlets like Paradise Inn, Pizza Hut and Quiznos at Terminal 1, Swensen's, Soup Restaurant and Ananda Bhavan at Terminal 2, and Dian Xiao Er, Lerk Thai and Secret Recipe at Terminal 3, just to name a few. In fact, more than half of these food and beverage outlets are also open round-the-clock, so visitors looking for their late-night coffee or snack after hours can head down to Changi Airport! A full list of dining establishments that remain open throughout Chinese New Year, is available on Changi Airport's website at http://www.changiairport.com/shopping-and-dining/come-dine-with-us-this-cny.

Apart from the wide variety of dining options, visitors will also be able to shop at the over 30 retail stores that will remain open at Changi Airport's public areas. They include Watson's, Hudson News and the Perfumes and Cosmetics stores at the main terminals. To top the festive celebration, the popular "Save 2 X 7% GST on Shopping" promotion will be specially re-launched. From 28 January to 27 March 2011, visitors shopping at the public areas of Changi Airport can enjoy substantial savings equivalent to double the GST amount (about 14%) on their purchases at participating retail outlets. These include Mini Toons, Watsons, Hudsons, Candy Empire, Bengawan Solo, Eu Yan Sang, SK Jewellery, Carlo Rino and Chomel.

To complement the festive spirit and atmosphere of the Chinese New Year, Changi Airport's terminals have also been beautifully decorated with traditional New Year plants and flowers such as pussy willows, pots of tangerine trees and cherry blossoms. Accompanying these lovely plants are gold bunny sculptures and giant bunny topiaries, beckoning a warm welcome to the Year of the Rabbit. The colourful and cheerful decorations make an ideal backdrop for photography opportunities.

Meanwhile, the free shuttle bus service to Changi Airport from Ang Mo Kio and Seng Kang MRT stations will continue to ply throughout the Chinese New Year period (except for Chinese New Year's eve, 2 February 2011). The free service, which operates on all weekends and public holidays, will run at one-hour intervals from 11.30am to 9.30pm.

Activities and performances for passengers
From now till 16 February 2011, passengers departing and transiting at Changi Airport can also experience Chinese New Year festivities at the Departure Transit Malls of Terminals 1, 2 and 3. During this period, traditional goodies such as ting tang candy and dragon beard candy can be sampled for free, and passengers can try their hand at calligraphy, opera mask painting, Chinese paper cutting, and even have their New Year's fortune told.

Special cultural performances will also be held twice every evening including Sze Chuan Opera Mask Changing performances and Plate Spinning acts. Other exciting programmes in the line-up include traditional Chinese dance and a perennial favourite, the Chinese drum performance. Details of these activities and performances can be found on Changi Airport's website at http://www.changiairport.com/at-changi/events-and-promotions/celebrates-the-year-of-rabbit