Malaysia’s largest Escape theme park to rise in Cameron Highlands

 

A new theme park and the first one in Cameron Highlands will be constructed across a 24ha valley at an elevation of 220m.

This will be the largest Escape park in Malaysia, and the third addition to the Escape brand of theme parks after Escape Penang and Escape Challenge in Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

When phase one opens in 2023, one its unique attractions will be its artificial ski slope, where guests can ‘ski’ without natural snow.

The investment of phase one is expected to be around RM15 million (US$3.5 million); while the entire project, comprising three or four phases, is expected to be completed within a decade and is conservatively estimated to exceed RM100 million, said Sim Leisure Group founder and CEO, Sim Choo Kheng. Sim Leisure Group will design, build and manage Escape Cameron Highlands.

Sim added: “Unlike other theme parks, Escape adopts the strategy of development in multiple phases to continuously add the novelty factor by introducing new attractions every year. As such, the project will continuously morph to evolve into something bigger and better, while still retaining the flavour and ethos for which the Escape brand is known.”

Escape Cameron Highlands will bring the brand’s signature Gravityplay and Adventureplay games to new heights, capitalising on the site’s overall 220m height difference. The theme park will be themed into five different European villages at varying elevations – starting with the Iberian village at the bottom, followed by the British, Balkan and Nordic villages moving up, before finally peaking at the Alpine village at the top.

These themed villages will also feature accommodation and rental offerings, in addition to hosting traditional European pastimes and activities, shared Sim.

With sustainability being at Escape’s core, Escape Cameron Highlands will preserve the natural habitat, setting the trend for sustainable theme park development. The attraction is built in collaboration with the site’s landowner, Hektar Muda Assets, led by Jimmy Doh.

Speaking at the virtual signing ceremony between Sim Leisure and Hektar Muda Assets, minister of tourism, arts and culture, Nancy Shukri, shared: “Escape Cameron Highlands will literally and figuratively be a breath of fresh air, as far as the tourism industry is concerned. This novel destination stands to offer something truly unique: reconnecting us with nature.

“The future of global tourism will be about family fun in the form of wellness. I predict an exponential growth in demand for nature-based tourism worldwide. Malaysia will set itself apart from its regional neighbours by promoting clean, healthy, family-oriented tourism. We will capitalise on our abundant natural beauty heading towards this new direction.

“Escape Cameron Highlands will do so much more than revitalise Cameron Highlands as a major tourism hub. This timely development will kickstart the revival of Malaysia’s domestic tourism industry, as a whole, which has been greatly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic since last year.”

-TTG Asia.