Genting Highlands is a hill station located on the peak of Mount Ulu Kali in the Titiwangsa Mountains, central Peninsular Malaysia, at 1800 metres elevation. Located in the state of Pahang, 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 Pahang's skyscrapers can be found here.

Quick Facts Other transcription(s), • Malay ...

Genting Highlands
Hill station
Other transcription(s)
• Malay	Tanah Tinggi Genting (Rumi) تانه تيڠڬي ݢنتيڠ‎ (Jawi)
• Chinese	云顶高原 (Simplified) 雲頂高原 (Traditional)
• Tamil	கெந்திங் மலை
From top, left to right: Genting SkyWorlds, Grand Ion City, First World Hotel, Chin Swee Caves Temple, Genting Skyway, Genting Grand Hotel
Genting Highlands Location of Genting Highlands in Pahang Show map of Pahang Genting Highlands Location of Genting Highlands in Peninsular Malaysia Show map of Peninsular Malaysia Genting Highlands Location of Genting Highlands in Malaysia Show map of Malaysia
Coordinates: 3°25′25″N 101°47′36″E
Country	Malaysia
State	Pahang
District	Bentong
Establishment	1965
Elevation	1,865 m (6,118 ft)
Time zone	UTC+8 (MST)
• Summer (DST)	Not observed
Postcode	69000 (Pahang)

Close

The idea to build a hill resort near the capital city of Kuala Lumpur came from Malaysian businessman, Lim Goh Tong who was inspired by the fresh air in Cameron Highlands 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 12,000 acres (4,900 ha) and 2,800 acres (1,100 ha) 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 from Genting Sempah to the peak of Mount Ulu Kali. On 31 March 1969, Tunku Abdul Rahman, 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).

Since then, Genting Highlands Resort has expanded, with six more hotels being built within 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 2.8 kilometres (1.7 mi) and Genting Skyway cable car system built in 1997 with a length of 3.38 kilometres (2.10 mi). 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.^[1]

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, which was purchased by The Walt Disney Company, resulted in the theme park being rebranded as Genting SkyWorlds.^[2] 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.

Genting Highlands has a springlike subtropical highland climate (Cfb), with yearly temperatures no higher than 25 °C (77 °F) and rarely falling below 10 °C (50 °F) yearly. The lowest temperature recorded at Genting Highlands is 8.4 °C (47.1 °F). The temperature during the day typically reaches around 22 °C (72 °F) and during the night, it usually drops to 12 °C (54 °F).

At the federal level, Genting Highlands is part of the Bentong parliamentary constituency in Pahang, currently represented by DAP's Young Syefura Othman, and the Hulu Selangor 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, currently held by Su Keong Siong of the DAP, and the Batang Kali constituency of the Selangor State Legislative Assembly, 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.^[32][33]