“We are not shy to admit that our core business was initially gaming. But we are not promoting gambling,” Katherine Chew Woon Yoke, Genting Malaysia Bhd. resort communications and public relations vice president, said recently during a media visit to The Jakarta Post.

In the future, Katherine explained, the company hoped to shift tourists’ perception of Genting to a place of amusement, family vacation, shopping and entertainment.

The company will pour up to 10.38 billion ringgit (US$2.39 billion) in capital investment to redevelop and transform the resort under the Genting Integrated Tourism Plan (GITP).

Katherine said the 20th Century Fox World theme park in Genting would be the first of its kind in the world. The theme park, offering 22 rides and attractions, will require at least 2 billion ringgit in investment and will lay on a 10.5-hectare plot of land. It is expected to commence operations in the second half of 2017.

“The Alien Vs. Predator is the scariest ride and will be our signature,” Katherine said, referring to one of the rides, named after the studio’s science fiction horror movie production.

The company bought a franchise from 20th Century Fox World, a brand famous for its popular movies such as Ice Age, Rio, Night at the Museum, Planet of the Apes and Alien Vs. Predator.

The renewed Genting Highlands Resort is projected to attract 30 million visitors by 2020, up from 20.2 million visitors in 2016.

Among the 10,000 rooms available in six hotels, the facility offers various choices of accommodation, from the affordable to the luxurious, including a family friendly accommodation, which is being built in an Alice in Wonderland theme.

The transformed resort also has premium outlets complete with 150 brands, which Katherine claimed offer the same prices as those in Kuala Lumpur.

She stated that Malaysians, who comprise 70 percent of visitors, were crazy about food. Therefore, the company has made exclusive restaurants and cafes available at the resort, including, to name a few, Burger and Lobster, Motorino and Cafés Richard.

“Many visitors from Kuala Lumpur even drive to the resort just for the dining and then leave,” she said, adding that there were about 60,000 visitors every day who come to stay overnight at hotels or come just to have a picnic with family and bring along their own meals.

Katherine said that to keep the business sustainable the resort has been covering all target markets without any segmentation.

Currently, most visitors stay less than two days, Katherine explained, but they were expected to spend at least three days after the completion of the theme park.

From the remaining 30 percent of non-Malaysian visitors, Indonesians came only after Singaporeans, Chinese and Indians.

“With Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur only a two-hour flight away from each other, we expect more Indonesians to visit the resort with our new theme park,” Katherine said. (dra)

Popular

Explore nearby, spend wisely: intra-provincial travel boom

Furniture exporters decry new quarantine rule

Jokowi faces storm of lawsuits six months after stepping down