Cheer returns for Malaysia theme park operators as borders reopen

MALAYSIAN theme park operators saw revenue dive during the pandemic, but now have reasons to jump with joy as international borders reopen. The country expects at least 2 million international tourists this year after its borders reopened on Apr 1, with Malaysia Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Nancy Shukri expecting this to generate up to RM8.6 billion (S$2.71 billion) of tourism revenue by end-2022.

International tourist arrivals to Malaysia plunged 83 per cent in 2020 to only 4 million travellers, down from 26.1 million in 2019, due to the country's prolonged border closure since March 2020.

Sim Choo Kheng, founder and chief executive officer of Sim Leisure, said its Escape theme parks in Malaysia were closed for around 15 months over the past two years.

The Singapore-listed theme park developer and operator owns and operates 3 theme parks in Malaysia: Escape Penang outdoor theme park, Escape Challenge indoor theme park and Kidzania indoor theme park in Petaling Jaya.

But a silver lining is that the long closure has led to pent-up demand – and now the floodgates are open. When Malaysia allowed theme parks to resume operations in the fourth quarter of 2021, Sim was surprised by the huge influx of domestic tourists.

“The last 2 months of 2021, Escape Penang did almost 40 per cent of the entire year's business and a record attendance since the park was first opened,” he told The Business Times.

This has given him hope that the growth momentum will continue, as international tourists who have similarly been starved for travel will also be more willing to spend more on their trips.

In the last 6 months alone, revenue has risen by an average of around 10 per cent across Sim Leisure's parks, compared to all of 2020. 

Sunway Theme Parks has also seen pent-up demand, leading to a surge in footfall since the fourth quarter of last year for its Sunway Lagoon and Sunway Lost World Of Tambun parks. The theme park operator is confident of achieving a 90 per cent recovery in revenue by this year's fourth quarter.

“Operating in a challenging environment in the last 2 years has not deterred us from constantly innovating and putting ourselves in the market. The massive positive sentiment that we’ve received from our domestic guests tells us that we’re on the right path of recovery,” said Calvin Ho, executive director of Sunway Theme Parks.

Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, 2019 was Sunway Theme Parks’ best performing year with 2.5 million visitors. Half of them were international travellers who visited the theme parks for leisure, MTV concerts and music festivals.

Some players are even opening new attractions. On Feb 8 this year, Genting Malaysia unveiled Genting SkyWorlds theme park, which is expected to be a key growth catalyst for Resorts World Genting.

After being closed to the public for about 8 months over the past 2 years, Resorts World Genting has also recorded a higher business volume after the reopening last Sep 30, though the company declined to provide further details.

In Genting Malaysia’s annual report 2021, which was released on Apr 7, the company said: “Plans are underway to ramp up operational capacity by leveraging on existing assets to meet the level of demand, while optimising cost efficiency, productivity and emphasising yield contributions.”