Japanese traveller wins Lamborghini
KUALA LUMPUR: A Japanese entrepreneur has won a Lamborghini Huracán Spyder after spending about RM2 million on luxury watches at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) last year.
Riyo Kawakami, 43, who travels frequently to Malaysia for business, was announced as the grand prize winner of the “Spend and Win” contest held in conjunction with Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd’s (MAHB) 25th Anniversary shopping campaign.
“I’m shocked. I don’t know what to say. This is my first time joining such a contest. I did not expect to win anything,” he said.
Kawakami, who collects luxury watches, said he bought at least 20 Rolex watches at KLIA during his visits to Kuala Lumpur be- tween June and December last year.
He said he would usually buy a luxury watch as a souvenir at the airport duty-free shops before going back to his hometown in Tokyo, Japan.
Aside from Kawakami, the other main winners walked home with an all-expenses paid trip for one week to either London or Paris, which included luxury accommodation, exclusive tour, a fine dining experience and US$1,000 (RM3,880) each.
MAHB managing director Datuk Badlisham Ghazali said the shopping campaign was one of MAHB’s ways to show its appreciation to its passengers for their continuous support.
“Our commercial services team has come up with exciting prizes that were supported by our partners, Mastercard, Malaysia Airlines Bhd, Malindo Air and AirAsia,” he said, adding that the prizes were worth more than RM2.5 million
Badlisham added that MAHB was one of the world’s five largest airport operator groups in terms of number of passengers, which continued to grow rapidly every year.
“Last year, we registered 96 million in passenger traffic at our airports in Malaysia, with KLIA handling about 58 million.”
He said there were also plans to improve the facilities at its airports, including providing larger concept shops, particularly in KLIA and klia2, with an allocation of RM200 million this year.