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Indonesian businessman, Chinese baseball coach win Changi Airport's Millionaire draw

Ng Huiwen (The Straits Times)
Singapore
Mon, January 22, 2018

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Indonesian businessman, Chinese baseball coach win Changi Airport's Millionaire draw Oddie Rehatta (right) took home the $1 million cash prize on Jan 21, 2018, while Chinese baseball coach Zhang Xuchao won a new Volvo S90 T5. (The Straits Times/Seah Kwang Pen)

A

n Indonesian businessman and a Chinese baseball coach walked away with the top prizes at Changi Airport's latest grand draw on Sunday (Jan 21).

Mr Oddie Rehatta, a 45-year-old business owner from Purwakarta, Indonesia, won the $1 million cash prize in the Be a Changi Millionaire shopping campaign, while 26-year-old Zhang Xuchao from Beijing received the keys to a new Volvo S90 T5. This was the first time the draw featured a luxury sedan.

The pair worked together to ace four rounds of games, beating 12 other competitors from Cambodia, Indonesia and Singapore.

On Sunday afternoon, a crowd gathered at Changi Airport's Terminal 4 for the "live" show, where the duo hugged on stage when their win was announced.

When asked what he would do with his $1 million windfall, Mr Oddie, who was flushed with excitement, said: "I will be putting some money into investments, my business and also making some donations."

More importantly, he said, he would be taking his family on a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Participants had to spend $50 in a single receipt at Changi Airport or online duty-free platform iShopChangi to qualify for the draw.

Mr Oddie said he bought various items for his friends from DFS during a previous business trip to Singapore.

Meanwhile, Mr Zhang, who was at the event with his girlfriend and had given her a kiss on stage, said: "I will use the money from encashing the car prize to buy another Volvo when I return to China."

Read also: Indonesian becomes latest 'Changi millionaire' winner

He said that he purchased an assortment of perfumes and cosmetics for his girlfriend from The Shilla Duty Free store while on a holiday to Singapore last August. "(The win) was totally unexpected for me," he added.

In a statement on Sunday, Changi Airport said that its flagship Be a Changi Millionaire campaign remains instrumental in driving commercial performance at the airport.

Concession sales grew to $2.5 billion in 2017, setting a new record, the statement said. This was an increase of 7.6 per cent from 2016.

The statement added that travellers from China, Singapore, Indonesia, India and Britain were the biggest group of spenders at the airport, with Chinese and Singaporean shoppers accounting for more than half of the total sales.

Perfumes and cosmetics, and liquor and tobacco took the top spots as the most popular products.

These were followed by luxury goods, electronics and gadgets, and chocolates and candies.

More than 57 million transactions were recorded at Changi Airport last year. This works out to an average of 158,000 transactions every day.

Sales from iShopChangi also saw 60 per cent growth year on year.

iShopChangi currently offers 10,000 products from 500 brands, and recently introduced a home delivery service for those who live in Singapore.

Changi Airport Group's executive vice-president of commercial Lim Peck Hoon said: "Retail plays a crucial role at Changi Airport because the revenue helps to keep the aeronautical charges at Changi competitive for airlines. The growth in air traffic has allowed a bigger audience to gain exposure to Changi's retail offerings."

She thanked passengers for their support and added that the airport will strive to make the shopping experience even better.


This article appeared on The Straits Times newspaper website, which is a member of Asia News Network and a media partner of The Jakarta Post
 

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