KUALA LUMPUR: KidZania Kuala Lumpur, an engaging indoor themed family edutainment park originally owned by Khazanah Nasional Bhd, has reopened under the new owner, Singapore's Sim Leisure Group.
The group, which is known for the Escape brand of theme parks and other projects around the world, announced the reopening in a statement last Friday.
Last June, the New Straits Time reported that Khazanah was mulling whether to reopen KidZania KL post-Covid-19 or close it for good since it was not profitable and that its cumulative losses had been increasing since the Movement Control Order was in place on March 18 2020.
KidZania KL opened nine years ago in Curve NX in the Mutiara Damansara township here.
The total cost of investment for the theme park was around RM80 million, but it had increased over the years due to upgrading work.
The KidZania brand is an international franchise with 29 facilities in 22 countries worldwide.
In Malaysia, the brand had originally been franchised to a joint venture between Khazanah and Boustead Holdings Bhd through an 80:20 joint company Rakan Riang Sdn Bhd.
Last November, it was reported that Sim Leisure was looking to acquire the entire stake in KidZania's licensee Rakan Riang for RM3.8 million (S$1.2 million).
The purchase price reportedly took into account Rakan Riang's financial performance for 2019 and the first six months of this year, the writing off of inter-company liabilities, as well as the deal's potential benefits to the Sim Leisure group.
Rakan Riang recorded a net loss of about RM1.4 million last year and net tangible assets (NTA) of some RM13.1 million as at December 31, 2019.
For the first half of this year, its net loss amounted to RM4 million while NTA was RM9.2 million as at June 30, 2020.
In its statement on Friday, Sime Leisure promised that KidZania KL was better and safer than before with so much in store.
KidZania KL governor and Sim Leisure chief executive officer Sim Choo Kheng said while limiting the number of visitors inside the park, it also encouraged visitors to make advanced bookings to ease their entry process.
"In fact, queuing will soon become a thing of the past at KidZania Kuala Lumpur as we are encouraging our guests to pre-purchase their tickets and do contactless entry via QR code," said Sim.
Combining learning and entertainment in an 80,000 square feet scaled replica of a real functioning city, KidZania KL now has newer activities where children can learn and experience different jobs, manage money and real world occupations, while developing all-important life skills that simply cannot be taught in the classroom.
As part of its newest offering, parents can now play an even more active role in their children's activities with a number of new shared role play experiences, making for some true, enriching quality family moments.