Genting Malaysia

New Theme Park Genting SkyWorlds

Genting Malaysia Bhd says it is “continuing to work towards” completing its Genting SkyWorlds recreational theme park at its mothership Resorts World Genting property “in the third quarter of 2021.”

In February, the company’s management stated that the theme park (shown in an artist’s rendering) would open in the second quarter of this year on the premises of its entertainment resort from outside Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur.

It was reported in late April that the hiring process for the facility has already begun.

However, in a statement accompanying its first-quarter financial report filed with the Bursa Malaysia on Tuesday, the company stated that the enforcement of a third movement control order in the country as a Covid-19 countermeasure “will continue to adversely impact the group’s business having followed the temporary closure of Resorts World Genting’s casino operations from 24 May 2021.”

It went on to say, “While the group continues working towards the finalization of the Genting SkyWorlds recreational amusement park in the third quarter of 2021, the park’s opening date is highly reliant on developments surrounding the Covid-19 condition and its impact on the country’s leisure and hospitality sector.”

Genting Malaysia has mentioned that it has invested “more than US$800 million” in Genting SkyWorlds.

This same theme park stretches 26 acres (10.52 hectares) which is said to be sufficient to facilitate up to 20,000 visitors at one time during normal business hours.

A number of financial analysts believe the park’s opening will help the gaming resort’s overall earnings by attracting new customers.

Maybank Investment Bank Bhd analyst Samuel Yin Shao Yang said during a Wednesday remark on Genting Malaysia’s first quarter that the casino firm’s 2022 operating income, taxation, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) might grow by 132 percent as “Genting SkyWorlds amusement park ramps up.”

Genting Malaysia stated in its first-quarter earnings press release that the 76 percent year-on-year slowdown in its Malaysian leisure and hotel industry – including gaming – was “primarily due to the suspension of the group’s resort operational activities from 22 January 2021 until mid-February 2021 in adherence with the government’s implementation of a second movement control or tax.”