Genting Highlands!! -Interesting Place in Pahang-

Genting Highlands!!

- Interesting Place in Pahang-

By : Allyssa ʕ•ᴥ́ •ʔ̀ ♡

​ ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

HISTORY

The idea to build a hill resort near the capital city of Kuala Lumpur came from a late Malaysian
Chinese businessman, Lim Goh Tong who was inspired by the fresh air in Cameron Highlands
during his business trip there in 1963 for a hydroelectric power project. Genting Highlands was
too far away from Kuala Lumpur, and therefore building a mountain resort nearer to Kuala
Lumpur would have great business potential.

After researching Kuala Lumpur's maps and
surrounding areas, Lim identified Mount Ulu Kali in
Genting Sempah, 58 km from Kuala Lumpur, to be
ideal for his plan. He set up a private company called
Genting Highlands Berhad (now Genting Group) on
27 April 1965 with the late politician Mohamad Noah
Omar and successfully obtained approval for the
alienation of 12,000 acres (4,900 ha) and 2,800 acres
(1,100 ha) of land from the Pahang and Selangor
State Government respectively between 1965 and
1970.

On 18 August 1965, a technical and construction team
began to construct the access road from Genting Sempah to the peak of Mount Ulu Kali and on
31 March 1969, the late Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia's first prime minister, laid the foundation
stone for the company's pioneer hotel, marking the completion of the access road to Genting
Highlands Resort.

The piece of land within the hill station below the resort
was developed into the Gohtong Jaya township. In
1971, the first hotel at Genting Highlands was
completed and was named Highlands Hotel (now
renamed as Theme Park Hotel).

Since then, Genting Highlands Resort has expanded,
with six more hotels being built within 2017. They are
Genting Hotel (renamed as Genting Grand, 1981),
Awana (1984), Resort Hotel (1992), Highlands Hotel
(1997), First World Hotel (2001) and Crockfords (2017).
Two cable car systems were built to provide transport
to the hilltop: Awana Skyway built in 1977 with a length
of 2.8 kilometres (1.7 mi) and Genting Skyway cable
car system built in 1997 with a length of 3.38 kilometres
(2.10 mi).

In 2013, Genting Group implemented a 10-year master plan named Genting Integrated Tourism
Plan (GITP) to develop, expand, enhance and refurbish hotels, theme parks and infrastructure at
Genting Highlands. The plan with different phases involves a new 1,300 rooms hotel expansion
to the current First World Hotel, a new 10,000 seats arena and reconverting the Genting Outdoor
Theme Park to 20th Century Fox World. A dispute with 20th Century Fox which was purchased
by The Walt Disney Company resulted in the theme park being rebranded as Genting
SkyWorlds. In 2019, the refurbishment of the infrastructure at the resort have been completed,
with only the outdoor theme park that is left renovating and is expected to be completed in early
2021.

Attractions

-Resorts World Genting-

Resorts World Genting (RWG), originally known as Genting Highlands Resort, is an integrated
hill resort owned by Genting Group through subsidiary Genting Malaysia Berhad which
comprising hotels, shopping malls, theme parks and casinos. It is the main attraction of the hill
station, located within the Pahang section of the area.

-Accommodations-

• Theme Park Hotel

Launch Date : 1971 (Reopened in 2017)
Description : Formerly known as Hotel on the Park, it is the first hotel to open in Genting

Highlands and sits opposite the outdoor theme park. The hotel's Valley Wings
section is connected to the main section via a walk bridge.

• Genting Grand Hotel

Launch Date : 1981
Description : It was known as Genting Hotel, and then later, Maxims before Highlands Hotel

took the name. The building is known for the huge "Genting" logo on its rooftop, which
can be seen from as far as Petaling Jaya and Subang Jaya (over 70 km away) on a
clear day. It was made in a "Y" shape. It houses the Genting Casino as well as Genting
Grand Complex.

• Awana

Launch Date : 1984
Description : Situated approximately 4 km before reaching Resorts World Genting, Awana is a

resort hotel with a golf course, swimming pool and other sports facilities.

• Resort Hotel

Launch Date : 1992
Description : The hotel is a long white tower that faces the Theme Park Hotel and is the main

entrance to the 20th Century Fox World. One of the entry points to Genting Casino.

• Highlands Hotel

Launch Date : 1997
Description : Initially opened as Highlands Hotel, the hotel was refurbished into Maxims in 2015

but reverted to its original name in September 2020. It houses the upper station of
Genting Skyway.

• First World Hotel

Launch Date : Tower 1 (2001), Tower 2 (2006), Tower 3 (2014)
Description : First World Hotel, with its two very noticeable brightly coloured towers, was the

largest hotel in the world until 2008 but regained the title in 2015 with the completion
of Tower 3.

• Crockfords

Launch Date : 2017
Description : Initially occupying Maxims' upper floors, it was relocated to Sky Avenue's upper

floors next to Sky Casino & First World Hotel. Opened on 27 Nov 2017, the hotel
was awarded Forbes Travel Guide 5-Star Hotel in Malaysia for 2019 & 2020, being
the only hotel in Malaysia to receive the accreditation.

( Highlands Hotel

-Theme Parks-

There are two theme parks at Resort World Genting, Genting Outdoor Theme Park and
Skytropolis Funland, an indoor theme park.

Genting Outdoor Theme Park

was opened in 1994 with

several rides, including a

monorail service. It was closed

on 1 September 2013 to make

way for the construction of the

world's first 20th Century Fox

World. However, due to

disputes between Genting

Malaysia Berhad, Fox

Entertainment Group and The

Walt Disney Company over the

theme park after the purchase

of 20th Century Fox by The

Walt Disney Company, Genting

and Walt Disney filed civil suits

over each other. The dispute

was resolved on the 26th of July 2019 following an agreement between Disney and Fox granted

Genting Malaysia Berhad a license to utilise certain Fox intellectual properties. The theme park

was eventually rebranded as Genting SkyWorlds. Genting Skyworlds is expected to open in June

2021 after completion was delayed from 2016 to 2018 and then to 2020.

Skytropolis Funland, formerly
First World Plaza Indoor Theme
Park and Genting Indoor
Theme Park, was opened in
2001. It was closed from June
2017 to February 2018 for
refurbishment. On 8 December
2018, the theme park was
opened to the public with some
attractions mimicking older
attractions of the former indoor
and outdoor theme parks. The
theme park also included the
first Asian branch of VOID, a
US-based operator of unique
fully immersive virtual reality attraction, which officially opened on 6 December 2018 on a 7,000
sq ft (650 m2) section of Skytropolis Funland.

- Casino -

( Sky Casino )

Resorts World Genting is the only
legal land-based casino area in the
country. There are two main casino
outlets in the resort, Genting
Casino in Genting Grand Complex
and SkyCasino in SkyAvenue Mall.

- Shopping malls -

There are currently five shopping

malls at the resort, Awana Sky

Central, First World Plaza, Genting

Highlands Premium Outlets,

SkyAvenue, and Genting Grand

Complex. Two of the shopping malls,

Awana SkyCentral and Genting

Highlands Premium Outlet, are near

Gohtong Jaya and are connected by

two link bridges. The 3 remaining

malls are situated at the mountain

top.

ﾟ+*:ꔫ:*﹤ The End ﹥*:ꔫ:*+ﾟ

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