Best airports in the world for shopping: Singapore’s Changi Airport officially tops the list

While Singapore’s Changi Airport has lost its status as the best airport in the world for 2024, it still has plenty of achievements worth shouting about. For one, it’s still the best airport in all of Asia, and it recently made travel more convenient by adding new automated lanes for foreign visitors, sans the need for prior enrollment. In a brand new ranking, Changi Airport is also officially the best airport in the world for shopping – so all you travellers would want to arrive well-prepared with extra luggage space to better-maximise your time spent waiting for flights.

This win is by quite a substantial margin, with Changi Airport outranking Hong Kong International Airport (#2) by a good 10 percent. In fact, Changi Airport is the only one in the world that has been given a shopping score of more than four stars, at 4.44 out of 5. Hong Kong scores 3.95, followed by South Africa’s Cape Town International Airport with a ranking of 3.86.

Zooming in on other airports in Asia, it’s probably no surprise that both of Tokyo’s major airports – Haneda Airport (#7) and Narita Airport (#9) – make the global top 10. Other highly-rated Asian airports include Incheon Airport (#5) in Seoul, Korea, as well as Taoyuan International Airport in Taipei, Taiwan (#6).

On the other end of the spectrum, Krabi International Airport in Thailand has been listed as the worst airport in Asia for shopaholics, earning itself a dismal 1.43 stars out of 5. All that being said, if you do find yourself Krabi-bound, you’re probably there for a beach escape rather than filling your travel trunk with commercial goods anyway, so it’s not too much of a big deal in our books.

Best airports in the world for shopping in 2024:

1. Changi Airport, Singapore (4.44)
2. Hong Kong International Airport (3.95)
3. Cape Town International Airport, South Africa (3.86)
4. Tampa International Airport, USA (3.81)
5. Incheon International Airport, Korea (3.78)
6. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, USA (3.78)
7. Haneda Airport, Japan (3.76)
8. Porto Airport, Portugal (3.70)
9. Narita Airport, Japan (3.69)
10. Portland International Airport, USA (3.63)

Best airports in Asia for shopping in 2024:

1. Changi Airport, Singapore (4.44)
2. Hong Kong International Airport (3.95)
3. Incheon International Airport, Korea (3.78)
4. Haneda Airport, Japan (3.76)
5. Narita Airport, Japan (3.69)
6. Taoyuan International Airport, Taiwan (3.43)
7. Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport, Cambodia (3.37)
8. Hamad International Airport, Qatar (3.33)
9. Noibai International Airport, Vietnam (3.28)
10. Yangon International Airport, Myanmar (3.27)

Though this index was created by CouponBirds, a deals website, the data they derived their ranking from was from Skytrax – the same organisation that does the established annual World Airport Awards. Over 33,000 Skytrax reviews were analysed, across a total of 886 airports, and these were then ranked according to best average ratings. Check out the full report here.

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