Genting Highlands is a

hill station A hill station is a touristic town located at a higher elevation than the nearby plain or valley. The English term was originally used mostly in Western imperialism in Asia, colonial Asia, but also in Africa (albeit rarely), for towns founded by ...

located on the peak of Mount Ulu Kali in the Titiwangsa Mountains, central

Peninsular Malaysia Peninsular Malaysia, historically known as Malaya and also known as West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula, is the western part of Malaysia that comprises the southern part of the Malay Peninsula on Mainland Southeast Asia and the list of isla ...

, at 1800 metres elevation. Located in the state of

Pahang {{Infobox political division , name = Pahang , official_name = Pahang Darul Makmur , native_name = , settlement_type = States and federal territories of Malaysia, State , image_skyline = , imagesize ...

, it was established in 1965 by the late Malaysian businessman Lim Goh Tong. The primary tourist attraction is Resorts World Genting, a hill resort where casinos and theme parks are situated and where gambling is permitted. Many of

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

s can be found here.

History

The idea to build a hill resort near the capital city of

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

came from Malaysian businessman, Lim Goh Tong who was inspired by the fresh air in

Cameron Highlands The Cameron Highlands () is a district in Pahang, Malaysia, occupying an area of . To the north, its boundary touches that of Kelantan; to the west, it shares part of its border with Perak. Situated at the northwestern tip of Pahang, Cameron Hi ...

during his business trip there in 1963 for a hydroelectric power project. The rationale was that Cameron Highlands was too far away from Kuala Lumpur, and therefore building a mountain resort nearer to Kuala Lumpur would have excellent 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 politician Mohamad Noah Omar and successfully obtained approval for the alienation of and 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 A frontage road (also known as an access road, outer road, service road, feeder road, or parallel road) is a local road running parallel to a higher-speed, limited-access road. Where parallel high-speed roads are provided as part of a maj ...

from Genting Sempah to the peak of Mount Ulu Kali. On 31 March 1969,

Tunku Abdul Rahman Tunku Abdul Rahman (8 February 19036 December 1990), commonly referred to as Tunku, was a Malaysian statesman who served as prime minister of Malaysia from 1957 to 1970. He previously served as the only chief minister of Federation of Malaya ...

, 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 resort was also granted the casino license the same year by the Malaysian government to develop its gambling industry. An area midway to the peak was turned into the Gohtong Jaya township. In 1971, the first hotel at Genting Highlands was completed and was named Highlands Hotel (now renamed Theme Park Hotel). Genting Grand Hotel

Since then, Genting Highlands Resort has expanded, with six more hotels being built by 2017. They are Genting Hotel (renamed 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 and

Genting Skyway Genting Gohtong Jaya Cable Car (formerly Genting SkyWay) is a gondola lift connecting Gohtong Jaya and Resort Hotel in Genting Highlands, Selangor, Malaysia. Its lower station at Gohtong Jaya township, located approximately northeast of Kuala Lu ...

cable car system built in 1997 with a length of . The resort ventured into the amusement park and entertainment industry by launching the Genting Grand Indoor Theme Park in 1992, Genting Outdoor Theme Park in 1994, Arena of Stars in 1998 and First World Plaza Indoor Theme Park in 2001. 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 project with different phases involves a new 1,300 rooms hotel expansion to the current First World Hotel, a new 10,000 seats arena, renovation of the First World Plaza Indoor Theme Park, and reconverting the Genting Outdoor Theme Park to 20th Century Fox World. A dispute with

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

, which was purchased by

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

, resulted in the theme park being rebranded as

Genting SkyWorlds Genting SkyWorlds Theme Park is an 11 hectare (26 acre) themed amusement park at Resorts World Genting, Genting Highlands, Malaysia. Initially, the park was to debut as 20th Century Fox World Malaysia, until The Walt Disney Company's Acquisitio ...

. In 2019, the refurbishment of the infrastructure at the resort was completed, with the outdoor theme park being fully renovated in 2021. As of 2024, there are no further plans to renovate both the indoor and outdoor theme parks.

Climate

Genting Highlands has a springlike

subtropical highland climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring c ...

(Cfb), with yearly temperatures no higher than and rarely falling below yearly. The lowest temperature recorded at Genting Highlands is . The temperature during the day typically reaches around and during the night, it usually drops to .

Attractions

Resorts World Genting

Resorts World Genting (

Abbreviation An abbreviation () is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method including shortening (linguistics), shortening, contraction (grammar), contraction, initialism (which includes acronym), or crasis. An abbreviation may be a shortened for ...

: RWG), originally known as Genting Highlands Resort, is an integrated hill resort owned by Genting Group through subsidiary Genting Malaysia Berhad which comprises 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

Genting-Highlands Malaysia First-World-Hotel-01

Resorts World Genting has seven hotels, with one of them being a leisure resort. One of the seven accommodations, First World Hotel, held the Guinness World Record as the largest hotel globally from 2006 until 2008 and regained the title in 2015 with 7,351 rooms following Tower 2A. In 2018, Forbes Travel Guide Star Ratings awarded 4-star rating and 'recommended' citation to Genting Grand and Maxims respectively. Genting_Highlands_-_High_Line_Roof_Top_Market

Genting_Highlands_-_High_Line_Roof_Top_Market

Crockfords at Resorts World Genting was awarded the 5-star rating in 2019 and 2020, making it the first and only hotel in Malaysia to achieve this award.

Theme parks

Genting-Highlands Malaysia Chin-Swee-Caves-Temple-02

There are currently three theme parks at Resort World Genting,

(formerly Genting Outdoor Theme Park), Skytropolis Funland (formerly First World Plaza Indoor Theme Park) and Genting Grand Indoor Theme Park. Genting Outdoor Theme Park was opened in 1994 with 31 rides at its peak, including a monorail service. It was closed on 1 September 2013 to make way for the construction of world's first 20th Century Fox World. However, due to disputes between Genting Malaysia Berhad,

Fox Entertainment Group The Fox Entertainment Group (FEG) was an American entertainment company specialized in film studio, filmed entertainment owned by 21st Century Fox. Following the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney, the group's assets were dispersed to va ...

and

over the theme park after the purchase of

by The Walt Disney Company, Genting and Walt Disney filed civil suits over each other. On 26 July 2019, following an agreement between Disney and Fox which granted Genting Malaysia Berhad a license to utilise certain Fox intellectual properties, the theme park was eventually rebranded as

. Genting Skyworlds was planned to open in June 2021 after completion was delayed from 2016 to 2018 and then to 2020. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, construction work had to be closed down and the opening date was postponed, although works have been mostly completed. On February 8, 2022,

began to hold soft openings. First World Plaza Indoor Theme Park was opened in 2001 with 12 rides at its peak and was closed from June 2017 to February 2018 for refurbishment. On 8 December 2018, it was opened to the public and rebranded as Skytropolis Indoor Theme Park, 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 section of Skytropolis Indoor Theme Park. On 14 June 2024, a fire broke out at the Genting SkyWorlds. More than 5,000 people evacuated to safer locations and yet there were no casualties. The fire started at the second floor before spreading to the fourth floor. Genting Grand Indoor Theme Park was opened in 1992, located at the lower floor of Genting Grand Hotel and consists of two children rides and one

amusement arcade An amusement arcade, also known as a video arcade, amusements, arcade, or penny arcade (an older term), is a venue where people play arcade games, including arcade video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, mercha ...

– Vision City Video Games Park.

Casino

Resorts World Genting is the only legal land-based casino area in the country. SkyCasino located in SkyAvenue Mall is the only casino that remains in operation in Malaysia. The much older, Genting Casino, was temporarily closed in early 2024 to facilitate renovations and upgrading works.

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 shopping malls, Awana SkyCentral and Genting Highlands Premium Outlet, is near Gohtong Jaya and are connected by two link bridges. The three remaining malls are situated at the mountain top.

Zouk Genting

In 2015, Genting Hong Kong Limited, a part of the Genting Group, purchased the

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

an nightlife brand Zouk. At this time, Zouk already had a second outlet in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In 2019, Zouk opened its third outlet in Resorts World Genting. This Genting outlet of Zouk features the main Empire Nightclub, FUHU Dining (a Chinese-themed restaurant), and RedTail Bar (consisting of a games bar, a sports bar and a karaoke section). Zouk continued its close collaboration with the Resorts World brand by subsequently opening another outlet inside Resorts World

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

in 2022.

Amenities

The resort has two performance venues and a cineplex. * Arena of Stars is a concert hall with a capacity of 5,132 seats. * Genting International Showroom is a multimedia entertainment venue with up to 1,000 seating capacity. * Bona Cinemas at SkyAvenue is their first outlet outside China. The cinema consists of 6 cinema halls equipped with

Dolby Atmos Dolby Atmos is a surround sound technology developed by Dolby Laboratories. It expands on existing surround sound systems by adding height channels as well as free-moving sound objects, interpreted as three-dimensional objects with neither horiz ...

sound systems and

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of High-definition video, high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and movie theater, theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (image), aspect ratio (approximately ei ...

halls.

Events

Resorts World Genting has hosted several events such as awards ceremonies, concerts, and competitions over the years which are: * Anugerah Bintang Popular Berita Harian * ESL One Genting 2017 * Genting World Lion Dance Championship * IIFA Awards 2002 * Malaysian Idol * Malaysia National Lion Dance Championship * MTV Asia Awards 2008 * My Astro Music Awards * Star Idol Malaysia *

Tour de Langkawi The Tour de Langkawi is a stage race, multiple stage bicycle racing, bicycle race held in Malaysia. It is named after the archipelago Langkawi, where the first edition started and finished. The race has been held annually since 1996, primarily ...

(Finishing line of climb stage) * Michael Learns To Rock - 10 November 2024

Other attractions

Other tourist attractions at Genting Highlands are Chin Swee Caves Temple - the sole Buddhist temple named after Ancient Chinese monk Qingshui, Mohamed Noah Foundation Mosque - the sole mosque named after late politician and co-founder of Genting Group Mohamed Noah Omar, Gohtong Memorial Park - memorial and cemetery of the late founder Lim Goh Tong, two agricultural centres Mini Cameron Highlands and Genting Strawberry Leisure Farms and sole apiary and insectarium - Happy Bee Farm, Insect World and Butterfly Wonderland.

Government and politics

At the federal level, Genting Highlands is part of the

Bentong Bentong, the seat of Bentong District, is a town located in western Pahang, Malaysia, at the border with the state of Selangor in the west and the state of Negeri Sembilan in the south. Government Bentong Municipal Council () is the local au ...

parliamentary constituency in Pahang, currently represented by DAP's Young Syefura Othman, and the

Hulu Selangor Hulu Selangor is a Districts in Malaysia, district in Selangor, Malaysia. It contains the towns of Serendah, Batang Kali and Kuala Kubu Bharu. Its principal town is Kuala Kubu Bharu. The district is located in the northeastern part of Selango ...

parliamentary constituency in Selangor, currently represented by Mohd Hasnizan Harun of PAS. On the state level, Genting Highlands falls under the Ketari constituency of the

Pahang State Legislative Assembly The Pahang State Legislative Assembly () is the unicameral state legislature of the Malaysian state of Pahang. It is composed of 42 members representing single-member constituencies throughout the state. The Assembly convenes at the Wisma Seri P ...

, currently held by Su Keong Siong of the DAP, and the Batang Kali constituency of the

Selangor State Legislative Assembly The Selangor State Legislative Assembly () is the unicameral Dewan Undangan Negeri, state legislature of the Malaysian Malay states, state of Selangor. The State Assembly is composed of 56 members representing single-member constituencies througho ...

, currently held by Harumaini Omar of PEJUANG. Genting Highlands falls within the municipal boundaries of the Bentong Municipal Council (''Majlis Perbandaran Bentong'') and the Hulu Selangor Municipal Council (''Majlis Perbandaran Hulu Selangor''). Since 2020, Genting Highlands has also been an autonomous sub-district (''daerah kecil'') within Bentong District.

References

External links

Genting Highlands Information Website
{{Coord, 3.42368, 101.79335, format=dms, display=title Resorts in Malaysia Casinos in Malaysia Casinos completed in 1995 Amusement parks in Malaysia Hill stations in Malaysia Tourist attractions in Pahang Populated places in Pahang Towns in Pahang Buildings and structures in Pahang Titiwangsa Mountains Casino hotels in Malaysia