Genting Hong Kong names Colin Au as group president

Hospitality executive Kent Zhu has also been named as president of new Genting Cruise Lines brand

By Rebecca Gibson | 22 March 2017

Genting Hong Kong (GHK) has appointed hospitality veteran Kent Zhu as president of its new Genting Cruise Lines, which encompasses the Crystal Cruises, Dream Cruises and Star Cruises brands.

Zhu has had more than 30 years of international hospitality experience, spending 18 years at global Asian luxury hotel group Shangri-La International before moving to his current position of executive vice president at Wanda Hotels and Resorts. He will officially become president in May.

In his new position, Zhu will focus on developing a nation-wide distribution network for Genting Cruise Lines in China.

“With my experience in two very successful international luxury hotel companies originating from Asia, I want to add value to the competitiveness and long term growth of Genting Cruise Lines, which has the largest number of available cabin capacity in Asia,” said Zu. “I would like to strengthen the relationship with our industry partners, develop a clear distribution strategy and infrastructure and align the brand standards to the changing trends of our customer profile to deliver a unique and memorable customer experience.”

GHK has also appointed Colin Au as its group president with immediate effect. Au joined the Genting Group 38 years ago, and was also the founding president and CEO of GHK back in 1993.

“With the quantum leap in size of the company, we are pleased to appoint Au as the group president of GHK to provide the leadership moving forward,” said Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay, board chairman and CEO of GHK. “He will focus his attention on Genting Cruise Lines, MV Werften, the German shipyard group and other assets of the company.”

Au said: “I look forward to providing leadership in this phase of rapid asset growth and overseeing MV Werften, which will provide the company with the competitive edge in building new large cruise ships, with the first 200,000gt Global Class ships by 2020, without relying on the limited number of European cruise shipyards which currently have a 10-year order-book, a historic high.”