Golden Travel Services - Heritage Brands Winner

WHAT started as a yearning for her country of birth has, over three decades, transformed into a growing company in the travel, education and medical industries.

Along the way, Madam Lin Deng Li (above), chairman of Golden International Holdings, has also built Golden Travel Services (GTS) into a tourism brand name in both Singapore and China.

In 1960, Madam Lin arrived from China on "one of the last ships" carrying the wave of immigrants then. Her mother and sister stayed behind in China.

Her constant urge to visit them, coupled with the high travelling costs, prompted her to start her own ticketing business in 1976.

Nine years later, recognising the latent demand, she started organising tours to China. The company has not looked back since.

Adept at spotting trends, Madam Lin, 60, has cornered a new and growing travel pie - educational trips for schoolchildren.

Besides helping Singapore schools organise visits to China, GTS also has its hands full hosting the "Little Emperors" from China, where the one-child policy means that these youngsters receive the best that their families can afford.

"Almost by default, many schools in China will ask us to organise their visits. The reason is very simple: We've been in touch with them for so many years, and GTS is the first agency name that comes to their minds," says Madam Lin.

This is a reflection of the strong branding the agency has built over 31 years of its history. Little wonder then that GTS recently won the Singapore Prestige Brand Award (Heritage Brands).

Last year, GTS started organising tours for Indian schools too. As the shortage of Singapore hotel rooms and rising room rates were causing a bottleneck in this growing market, the company invested $2 million to build its own hostel in Seletar that can accommodate up to 500 students.

The company, together with some partners, is also building a 500 million yuan (S$97.5 million) hotel and retail project in Kunming, China, which will be ready in two to three years' time.