NETHERLANDS. Amsterdam Airport Schiphol will be celebrating China Golden Week, the autumn national holiday period in China from 1-7 October, with a number of special services.
The initiative has been developed in response to the steadily increasing number of Chinese passengers using the airport.
To help Chinese passengers familiarise themselves with the wide variety of airport services and facilities, the airport has developed a Chinese section on its website, www.schiphol.com
In addition, special offers for Chinese travellers (diamonds, fashion accessories, liquor and souvenirs), published in Chinese, will be available at the airport’s See Buy Fly Shopping Centre during Golden Week.
Other services will include:
– Chinese-speaking KLM staff to assist Chinese passengers travelling onboard KLM flights, and Chinese-speaking airport staff in the terminal and at baggage reclaim.
– passenger information announced in Chinese at the gates of departure.
– Chinese passengers eligible for tax refunds on purchases made in the Netherlands will receive assistance from Chinese-speaking staff at the Global Tax Refund outlets located before and after Passport Control.
– the provision of Chinese airport maps and Airport City information guides.
– Asian food (Chinese, Indonesian and Thai) will be offered at Yam Yam, a new fast food outlet at Schiphol Plaza, the landside public shopping centre, as well as in the airside Hot Wox counters in the Departure Lounge 1 and 2 food courts. A new airside Noodles Bar located in Departure Lounge 2 will be officially opened on 3 October.
– the airport has over 100 shops and 50 restaurants and bars, all housed within its acclaimed single-terminal. Further facilities include a branch of the world-famous Rijksmusuem permanently displaying ten master paintings from the Dutch Golden Age, a casino with a dedicated Chinese table, and on-chair and aqua massage facilities.
– the ACCOR hotels situated at Schiphol (Dorint Sofitel Amsterdam Airport, Dorint Novotel Amsterdam Airport, Mercure Amsterdam Airport and Ibis Amsterdam Airport) will all offer Chinese services, including a Chinese Reservation Department, Chinese buffet breakfast items, Chinese newspapers and Chinese satellite television.
Currently Schiphol Airport serves four destinations in China with daily KLM flight services operated to and from Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Cathay Pacific also operates daily flights to and from Hong Kong. China Southern Airlines operates four weekly flights to and from Beijing and Guangzhou.
China overtook Japan last year as the airport’s number one Asian destination, with the number of passengers travelling to and from China totalling 664,000.
The airport’s Golden Week activities correspond with the Chinese events being hosted by the Netherlands during the month of October. These events include the cultural Amsterdam China Festival, the main sponsor of which is Schiphol Group, plus the two-day China- Netherlands Economic Congress entitled “˜The Culture of Sharing Knowledge’.
The Economic Congress was initiated and sponsored by six Dutch multinationals, including Schiphol Group, and six Dutch government bodies to share views on economic relations between the two countries. Many visitors to these events are anticipated to travel via the airport in October.
The Netherlands Tourism and Convention Board forecasts the number of Chinese visitors to the Netherlands to increase to around 250,000-300,000 by 2007 from around 82,000 in 2004.
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