Grandma is Travel Personality of the Year, 2005

Jennie Chua receives Prestigious Award from TTG Asia at its 16th Annual Travel Awards Ceremony

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. October 14, 2008

SINGAPORE, OCTOBER 14, 2005. Premier trade magazine, TTG Asia, last evening presented one of its top awards, the Travel Personality of the Year Award, to Ms Jennie Chua, President and CEO of Raffles Holdings and Chairman of Raffles Hotel, Singapore, at its 16th Annual Travel Awards Ceremony held in Pattaya.

Said TTG Asia Media Managing Director, Mr Darren Ng, "The editorial team picks its Travel Personality of the Year each year based on a few factors. The person not only has to be making the news in the year under review, but has to be a real inspiration to the industry and society at large. This year, Ms Jennie Chua is a clear-cut choice."

"She made the news with the sale of Raffles International Hotels & Resorts to Colony Capital, realising a gain of more than S$600 million, thereby unlocking significant value for its shareholders. The deal also showed her to be a person who gave maximum consideration to her staff. She made sure the buyer was not just buying the assets, but the people who improved the asset value, and that they would have a future."

In July 2005, Raffles Holdings announced the sale of its Hotel Business to private international investment firm, Colony Capital, LLC for an enterprise value of S$1.72 billion. At the completion of the sale on 30 September 2005, Ms Jennie Chua conveyed her best wishes to her former colleagues at Raffles International who joined Colony Capital, saying that she is positive that a dynamic organisation like Colony Capital will provide an even stronger platform for the further growth and development of Raffles International.

Added Mr Darren Ng, "Despite her hectic schedule running a main board listed company in Singapore, Ms Chua remains committed to charity work and to the numerous local and international councils she serves. We just have to wonder how she does it and, on top of that, be a loving mother and grandmother, and find time to pursue her hobbies. She is truly a huge person."

Ms Jennie Chua thanked TTG for honouring her with the prestigious Travel Personality of the Year Award. With her trademark good humour and candour, she expressed her appreciation to her former colleagues from Raffles International for their support and for having "made her look good", explaining that her approach to success is to surround herself with people "better than herself; better looking, better educated and more intelligent", and that this has paid off once again.

Following the divestment of Raffles International, Ms Jennie Chua has accepted Colony Capital's invitation to remain as Chairman of Raffles Hotel, Singapore. As the Hotel's Chairman, Ms Chua had another reason to celebrate -the iconic Raffles Hotel, Singapore is named winner of the Best Luxury Hotel Award, 2005. This is the Hotel's third win after being previously awarded the honour in 2002 and 2004. Indeed, it was double joy for Ms Jennie Chua, who gleefully concluded her acceptance speech by saying, "I can now go home and tell my two grandsons that 'Grandma has made it'."