- Red Ambassadors. to help Chinese travellers over Chinese New Year

- Mandarin-speaking volunteers to assist passengers with directions and information

- Airport guides now available in Chinese

Sydney Airport will welcome more than 150,000 passengers expected to arrive over Chinese New Year with Chinese airport guides and Mandarin-speaking Red Ambassadors over the next six weeks to assist people with directions and information.

Chinese New Year is all about spending time with your friends and family, Sydney Airport chief executive officer Kerrie Mather said.

With Sydney hosting the world’s biggest Lunar New Year festival outside of Asia, we’re expecting an influx of visitors.

More than half of Australia’s Chinese-born population live in Sydney and we are expecting more than 150,000 people from China and other Asian destinations to arrive at Sydney Airport over the Chinese New Year festival. Mandarin-speaking students studying aviation, tourism and business have been selected as volunteers for a six-week Red Ambassador program over the Lunar New Year. They will focus on providing assistance to passengers through facilitation points at both arrivals and departures. Sydney Airport guides will be available for the first time in Chinese, there will be lion dances and bouncing kangaroos in the international terminal forecourt on January 22 and special retail deals targeted at the Chinese market.

China is a key inbound growth market with seven airlines now flying between Sydney and China and Chinese tourists spending around $2.5 billion a year,. Ms Mather said.

Low-cost carriers are driving the growth in inbound tourism from these emerging markets and with Sydney Airport welcoming two more airlines operating new long-haul services from the Asia-Pacific region over the coming months, it shows the strength of the Sydney market.

Our partnership with Destination NSW will drive growth in inbound tourism, particularly from emerging markets in China and south-east Asia. Making it easier for our Chinese-speaking passengers to find their way around the airport and around Sydney will be a key part of this push.