BUKIT TINGGI: Growing awareness of the need to reduce environmental impact has led Berjaya Hills Resort Bhd to implement measures that allow guests at The Chateau Spa and Wellness Resort to enjoy healing and relaxation away from city life while also being mindful of preserving nature.
Berjaya Hills Resort and Berjaya Tioman Resort area general manager Paul Cheah said that The Chateau, nestled in a tropical rainforest and best described for its incredibly diverse flora and fauna combined with its architecture inspired by the 18th-century ‘Haut Koenigsbourg’ castle in Alsace, France, offers much more than just a calm getaway.
“The Chateau, 45 minutes away from Kuala Lumpur, is designed as a French-themed village resort, and is quiet and serene, allowing guests to rejuvenate without harming the environment,” he said, adding that the resort has established an organic farm for guest use and internal consumption.
Cheah added that this helps reduce emissions instead of purchasing items from the city, which would contribute to upstream and downstream movements.
“We offer a fresh, unpolluted, non-pesticide approach towards our food source and for the leftover food that we have, it will be processed at the compacting plant, where we compact our food wastage and then it comes out as fertiliser.
“So, we re-utilise the fertilisers for our greenhouse and all the plants around here. This creates pesticide-free compost, leading to a domino effect,” he told Bernama.
The Chateau also produces its water from the dam, sources water from the hill and springs, and progressively converts its vehicles into electric vehicles.
The resort features 172 rooms from eight categories, namely the Deluxe Rooms, Premier Rooms, one-bedroom suites, jacuzzi suites, noble suites, two-bedroom suites, three-bedroom suites and Son Altesse suites.
The room designs are inspired by traditional yet sophisticated European-themed furnishings, complemented with luxurious amenities.
The resort also features a children’s club catering to families, enhancing their vacation experience.
Aligning with Asean’s sustainable goals
Cheah emphasised that the efforts taken at the resort are aligned with the sustainability efforts at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) level.
Recently, in a groundbreaking move to reshape and strengthen the tourism landscape, Asean has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the United Nations (UN) tourism agency to advance sustainable tourism practices and equip the region with the tools necessary to thrive in a post-pandemic world.
The MoU establishes a robust framework for technical cooperation, focusing on key areas such as tourism competitiveness, capacity building, and sustainability.
The Chateau’s “La Sante Spa” was recently bestowed with the Asean Spa Services Award at the Asean Tourism Standard Awards 2025 by the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture.
It is one of the only five award recipients in Malaysia for 2025-2027, setting a benchmark for promoting tourism excellence in Asean.
Cheah emphasised that the company is aggressively marketing The Chateau as one of the destinations for government official retreats, particularly with Malaysia officially assuming the Asean chairmanship this year.
“We continue with our marketing penetration, we have created packages which include meals, rooms, function rooms and meeting rooms. These packages have been formulated and will continue to be revised as each government official meeting has varying budgets.
“We are focusing on department heads and officials, and we aim to capture a significant share of this market,” he said.
Travel trends and surge in tourists
Domestically, Cheah said that the majority of Malaysians are still keeping their travel itinerary within the country – 65% of The Chateau’s guests are Malaysians – and this trend is expected to continue this year and next year.
He added that 35% of its guests are international tourists, and the free visas extended to Indian and Chinese nationals have contributed to this trend.
“We have seen a huge change in travel patterns coming into Malaysia for the better part of 2024, with Chinese tourists no longer travelling in big groups. We see this change because they travel independently and take advantage of the free visas we offer,” Cheah said.
He noted that tourists from India currently constitute about 12% of the resort’s international guests and are set to increase to about 30% next year.
“The Chinese market is about the same, at around 14%. We have engaged a series of travel agencies and we expect an increase of about another 10% by 2026,” he said.
Sustainable farming through Veggie Nature
With its hydroponic and pesticide-free farm, Berjaya Hills has found itself supplying vegetables to resorts and restaurants under Berjaya Group’s umbrella, and the rising demand ranges from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore and even Hong Kong.
Horticulture and Project Property Head of Department, Ku Ahmad Fasbir Ku Talib, said the latest addition to the Berjaya Hills Resort family, Veggie Nature, focuses on sustainable farming which has so far seen a high demand trend from the market.
“Veggie Nature aims to provide a unique experience for those seeking a greener and healthier lifestyle.
“Our greenhouses are spread across 2.43 hectares of land, with the organic farm taking up about 1.21 hectares with 17 types of vegetables including green coral salad, red coral, cherry tomato, eggplant and capsicum being produced by Veggie Nature,” he told reporters during a media visit recently.
Ku Ahmad said Veggie Nature produces two tonnes of output every week and strictly adheres to organic farming practices where synthetic fertilisers, pesticides or genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are avoided.
Besides vegetables, Veggie Nature has ventured into durian farming on 32.37 hectares of land, with 70% of it planted with the Musang King variant, Black Thorn (20%) and IOI.
“We expect to start harvesting in the next two years,” he said.
Ku Ahmad said Veggie Nature is expanding to phase two involving another 2.02 hectares of land in the second half of this year.
“We plan to build five more greenhouses to meet the market demand,” he said, adding that the closer distance to the city centre has helped keep the vegetables fresher as compared to vegetables produced in Cameron Highlands.
Berjaya Hills has allocated an area of 40.46 hectares for agricultural purposes.
