Singapore – CNBC announced the nominees of this year’s Travel Business Leader Award in Asia Pacific (TBLA). The winner of the TBLA will be announced at the TravelRave Leaders Gala to be held at the Victoria Theatre in Singapore on 28 October.
CNBC’s TBLA recognises the business leader who has demonstrated leadership excellence in the travel and tourism industry – driving growth, success and profitability. Candidates for this award include leaders from the following sectors: airlines, hospitality, attractions and tour operators, travel agents, and airports.
Nominees contending for this year’s TBLA are:
• Thirayuth Chirathivat, CEO, Central Plaza Hotel Public Company Limited
• John Guscic, Managing Director, Webjet Limited
• Stephen Ho, President, Asia Pacific, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide
• Dara Khosrowshahi, President & CEO, Expedia
• Martin Rinck, President, Asia Pacific, Hilton Worldwide Holdings
• Jan Smits, Chief Executive, Asia, Middle East and Africa, IHG
• David Jian Sun, CEO, Home Inns & Hotel Management Inc.
• Budi Tirtawisata, Group CEO, PT Panorama Sentrawisata Tbk
• Edward Matthew Tracy, President & CEO & Executive Director, Sands China
• Wang Titang, Chairman, Xiamen International Airport Company Limited
• Si Xianmin, Chairman, China Southern Airline
The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and Millward Brown are the Knowledge and Research Partners for TBLA. They, along with David Scowsill (President & CEO, WTTC) and Emirsyah Satar, (President and CEO, PT Garuda Indonesia, (Persero)Tbk), have worked closely with CNBC to ensure a rigorous selection criteria and judging process.
The TravelRave Leaders Gala will feature The CNBC Conversation with Satar, last year’s TBLA winner, and also pertinent highlights of the Asia Travel Leaders Summit (ATLS) – an intimate high-level dialogue centred on the industry’s opportunities and challenges, driving sustained growth through collaborative initiatives that would benefit the Asia region. ATLS is one of eight quality events co-located within TravelRave – the region’s premier travel and tourism week. CNBC is the Official Broadcast Partner of the ATLS.
Past winners of TBLA include: Tan Sri Dr. Tony Fernandes, Group Chief Executive Officer,
AirAsia Bhd (2011), Ho Kwon Ping, Executive Chairman, Banyan Tree Holdings (2012), and
Emirsyah Satar, President and CEO, PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk (2013).
