Rosy outlook for Johor hotels as theme parks spring up

Malaysian Association of Hotels says for this year, the average occupancy rate will increase to 67 per cent with an average room rate of RM170.
KUALA LUMPUR: The opening of several amusement parks in the last quarter of 2012 is expected to augur well for the hotel operators in the southern state of Johor.

Malaysian Association of Hotels’ chairman Tengku Ahmad Faizal said for this year, the average occupancy rate will increase to 67 per cent with an average room rate (ARR) of RM170.

Last year, based on a total room inventory of 15,723, the state filled 54 per cent of its available rooms and garnered an ARR of RM164.

Tengku Ahmad, in a recent interview with Business Times, said the average occupancy and rates were for the three- to five-star class hotels.
“We saw a drop in occupancy in the first 11 months of 2010 but in December, things picked up with the opening of the Johor Premium Outlets,” he said.

In December 2011, occupancy hit 81 per cent from 76 per cent in 2010 while rates rose to RM161 from RM146 in 2010.

Accordingly, Tengku Ahmad feels that the opening of Legoland on September 15 2012 followed by Hello Kitty Town, Little Big Club and LAT themed village at Puteri Harbour will help lift occupancy and rates in Johor.

Legoland is forecasting one million tourists in the first year of operations. This year, some five hotels with a total of 2,003
rooms will be added.

The hotels include KSL Resort (868), Traders Hotel (280), Renaissance Hotel (300), Granada Hotel (198) and Austin Century Hotel (322).

With the exception of KSL Resort, the remaining hotels will be launched towards the end of 2012. Iskandar Malaysia Tourism Steering Committee projected that by 2025, Johor will require
25,000 number of hotel rooms in the three- to five-star class.

Occupancy at hotels in Johor has predominantly been a split of 65 per cent and 35 per cent between business and leisure.

The opening of JPO, Legoland and other parks are expected to see the business-to-leisure guests split equally.

By Vasantha Ganesan

40 hotels set for opening in Johor

Of the numbers, almost half are expected to be built within the next five years, prompting concerns of an oversupply.
A whopping 40 new hotels, predominantly within the three- and five-star categories, are slated for opening in Johor.

Of the numbers, almost half are expected to be built within the next five years, prompting concerns of an oversupply.

Chairman of the Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) Johor Chapter, Tengku Ahmad Faizal, said a right balance could be achieved if these openings are done in phases.

As Johor transforms itself into the amusement and theme park capital of Malaysia, there is a requirement for additional supply of hotel rooms.
Nevertheless, there is also a need for lower star-category hotels.

“Should all the hotels open according to schedule, with the opening of Legoland, followed by Hello Kitty Town, Little Big Club and LAT theme parks, room supply should be just nice.

“Looking at up to 2015, there will be sufficient rooms to cater to the expected increase in tourists,” Tengku Ahmad said.

It was reported that Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman said by 2014 alone, Johor will have an additional supply of 3,000 new rooms.

“But what we need is all categories of accommodation.
We need lower-category rooms, below the three-star category to cater to the middle- and lower middle-income groups.

Serviced apartments for families are required as well,” he said.
Tengku Ahmad pointed out that all of these openings may not work in favour of the hotel operators if the rooms are not filled.

“With 40 hotel openings, and possibly more, everyone has to play their part in order to create awareness about Johor and to get the tourists to the state.

"We will surely need more international direct flights into the Senai International Airport. Otherwise, the perception that Johor is not easy to reach will remain," he said.

He added that Johor is always a difficult destination to sell, but with the new developments taking place, he hopes more travel agents will start promoting the state.

With the opening of international hotel brands like Traders Hotel, Sheraton and Aman, Tengku Ahmad expects Johor's visibility in the international scene will increase further.

However, he also said that while the hotel plans will create more jobs in the state, filling the openings and retaining staff can pose a challenge.

This is because hotel staff are easily persuaded to move to Singapore, or even from one hotel to another hotel for just an additional RM50 a month.

If there are insufficient numbers of arrivals to fill the available capacity, it will not be unusual for hotels to begin a rate war just so they can survive.

SE Asia’s very own Orlando?

SPLASHING GOOD TIME: Johor set to become amusement park capital in the Asean region with host of new attractions.

JOHOR is transforming into the biggest theme and amusement park destination in Malaysia and possibly in the Asean region, with a cluster of at least 11 leisure attractions to be based in the state.

Combined with attractions in neighbouring Singapore, industry observers said the southern region of Asia could emulate Orlando in Florida, where Disneyland provides the central attraction.

Government investment arm Khazanah Nasional Bhd is involved in most of the planned attractions in Johor, with at least five of them being developed by its leisure and tourism unit, Themed Attractions and Resorts (TAR) Malaysia.

In a recent interview, TAR chief executive officer Tunku Ahmad Burhanuddin said Malaysia was not competing with Singapore to promote theme parks and attractions but instead, both countries were supplementing and complementing each other.

“We want to make it the attraction capital and the number one family destination in the Asean region,” said Tunku Ahmad.

“The entire area can become a tourist destination in its own right, just like Orlando,” said TAR chief operating officer Steve Peet.

A study by Bain & Co revealed that there was a need for family-oriented parks in the region.

Ahmad said many families were visiting Malaysia but products catering to them were insufficient.

“TAR was formed (in 2009) to be a catalyst for investments into the tourism sector and to design, build and operate attractions,” he said.

It has been allocated a total of RM2.3 billion till 2015 to develop parks and attractions.

In Puteri Harbour Johor, TAR will launch two indoor attractions in Hello Kitty Town and Little Big Club.

“(But) it is not enough just to have Hello Kitty Town and Little Big Club to promote Malaysia. So, we decided to incorporate Lat, our famous cartoonist,” Ahmad said.

"Lat", which is still a working name, will be based on the kampung scene found in the Last comics. It will consist of an indoor area measuring 6,000 sq ft and offer theatres and restaurants, among others.

TAR is also working on two other theme parks - Ocean Quest and Ocean Splash - in Desaru, Johor.

Apart from TAR, other developers that will be opening theme parks in the state include the Genting Group and Radiant Starfish Bhd, the developer of Mersing Laguna.

Sunway Bhd executive director of group strategy and corporate development Sarena Cheah, meanwhile, said the company might incorporate a theme park into its Sunway Iskandar project.

TAR showcases Malaysia in a tourism park

Kuala Lumpur: Themed Attractions Malaysia, in partnership with Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL), will open a world-class cultural attraction called Malaysia Truly Asia Attractions in the capital in 2014.

The Malaysia Truly Asia Attractions, which forms part of the Greater KL initiative, will sit on a 26.59ha site bordered by the Tugu Peringatan, Padang Merbok, Bank Negara Malaysia’s Lanai Kijang residential complex and Istana Selangor.

This will be a one-stop centre showcasing what Malaysia is and has, that can be experienced in a few hours.

“It is an immersive interactive cultural tourism park,” Themed Attractions and Resorts Sdn Bhd (TAR)’s chief executive officer Tunku Ahmad Burhanuddin said.

TAR is the operational and management company for Khazanah Nasional Bhd’s leisure and tourism division.

TAR has a total of RM2.3 billion in investments up until 2015 to develop attractions in Malaysia.

“It will be a tourist attraction where people can see Malaysia in a nutshell,” Ahmad told Business Times in an interview.

The idea, he said, is to woo transit passengers to visit Malaysia Truly Asia Attractions. “We want them to come out (of the airport) and spend a few hours at the attraction. And we
want them to go ‘Wow’! This is what Malaysia is all about.

Next time, I come, I will stay a couple days or weeks.” Apart from cultural elements, it will include gastronomical and heritage components.

“We have a forest there, so it will include experiencing a jungle,” he said, adding that the vegetation in the Lake Gardens area will be maintained.

“This is part of the Greater KL initiative to promote KL as well as promote Malaysia as a destination,” he said. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is expected to launch the project later this year.

By Vasantha Ganesan

KSL Resort set to be a hit among travellers

JOHOR BARU: Operator of KSL Resort Johor Baru, one of Malaysia's biggest city hotels, says there is big potential for the hotel industry here.

KSL Resort executive chairman Ku Hwa Seng said the city's average occupancy rate had increased from 68 per cent two years ago to 78 per cent last year.

Riding on this, Ku is confident that KSL Resort will be a hit among travellers and businessmen.

KSL Resort is having its soft opening today.

"Banking on the high occupancy rate, our resort hotel is offering another alternative for tourists and visitors who want a combination of business and leisure during their stay in the city.

"This is not only the biggest hotel in Johor, but also the biggest city hotel in the country," Ku told a media briefing at the hotel on Wednesday.

The five-star resort hotel, built on top of the KSL Mall in Taman Century, will feature 868 rooms in two face-to-face 20-storey tower blocks.

Developed at a cost of RM200 million by KSL Holdings Bhd, the hotel will be fully opened by May 15.

Ku said the resort hotel formed part of the RM1 billion development in the area, which also features the shopping mall, which was opened in December 2010, and an exclusive condominium called D' Esplanade Residence, scheduled for opening in the third quarter of this year.

It is called a resort hotel as the facilities are more that of a resort than a city hotel.

Among the resort facilities coming up at the hotel are a water theme park, electronics golf simulators, a lake-type swimming pool, among others.

Of the total rooms, 596 are superior rooms, 239 are deluxe rooms and 33 are suites.

The resort hotel also boasts the biggest restaurant seating 560 persons.

It will also have a pillarless ballroom on the seventh floor to accomodate up to 1,000 people.

By Sim Bak Heng

Art-tracting more tourists

PUTRAJAYA: The Tourism Ministry is trying to get international artists to come and stay in the country as part of its efforts to make Malaysia the art hub for South-East Asia.

Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen said the ministry was clear in its objective, which was to elevate Malaysia's status as an art lovers' destination for both local and South-East Asian art.

However, she said it would not set rigid strategies to achieve this objective, preferring the art community to set the direction.

“We (the ministry) are not experts. We offer (private) art galleries to join in on art tourism, and we also seek their recommendations and input on setting the art gallery trail.

“We haven't started but we are also trying to get international artists to come and stay here. We also want art critics to come and judge our work.

“But we don't know if we are ready yet. That is why we need to get the art community involved,” she said after launching the Femme Flora art exhibition at the ministry's lobby here yesterday.

She said that although the concept of using art to promote tourism was still quite new in Malaysia, the country could very well be the art hub for the region if the figure were to be an indication.

Art tourism bagged RM14mil in sales when it was introduced in 2010, with the value of art purchases in Malaysia going up to RM17mil in 2011.

Dr Ng said the ministry had to deal with a fair bit of scepticism from the local art community when it first launched art tourism until the success of the Henry Butcher auction, in which some RM1.3mil worth of art pieces were sold in 2010.

Meanwhile, 69 art pieces worth an estimated RM345,000 will be on display during the Femme Flora exhibition, which will be on until April 30.

Organised as part of the Women's Month celebration, the exhibition is a showcase of art by 29 women from 10 countries, including Malaysia, Australia, China, Finland, Iran, South Korea, the Philippines and Taiwan.

By JOSEPH SIPALAN
jsipalan@thestar.com.my

Four Seasons Place KL to open in 2015

NO RUSH: Back to drawing board to ensure a world-class end-product, source says

THE Four Seasons Place in Kuala Lumpur will open in 2015, sources say.

News of a Four Seasons being developed in the capital by two tycoons and a sultan first surfaced in 2005. In 2007, some work even began on the site, but the project has yet to see the light of day.

A source told Business Times that some developments can be anticipated within the next three months with completion expected to be three years thereafter.

The Four Seasons Place is being built by Venus Assets Sdn Bhd, a firm controlled by Ipoh-born tycoon Ong Beng Seng, Tan Sri Syed Yusof Syed Nasir and the Sultan of Selangor.

The delay was attributed to the failure of a proposed deal between Venus Assets and national oil corporation Petronas to go through and the project going back to the drawing board.

"The developer is working to ensure this product is worthy of Malaysia's image as an international tourist destination and is in line with the country's target to be a developed nation," the source said.

"The project is not being rushed, so that the end result will be a first-class product," he said.

Since the plans have gone back to the drawing board, talk is that there may even be a possibility of the Four Seasons reverting to the original plans which included two towers.

In a 2009 interview with Business Times, Syed Yusof said the building will be a single 65-storey tower. It was to include 150,000 sq ft of retail component, 150 hotel rooms and 100 serviced apartments. Another 140 serviced apartments would be for sale.

Venus Assets bought the prime 1.05ha site for RM90 million in 2003 from the estate of the late Khoo Teck Puat, the former major shareholder of Standard Chartered plc.

It was reported then that cost of construction for all the components, including land and interior design, was RM1.4 billion and the estimated gross development value (GDV) of the project was RM2.5 billion.

Should the new project have two towers, it would be safe to assume that the GDV could be well above the initial estimation of RM2.5 billion.

By Vasantha Ganesan