PETALING JAYA: I-Berhad expects a footfall of at least 17 million visitors to its i-City development by December this year, driven by the development and enhancement of its property segment, which includes leisure and hospitality.

Chairman Tan Sri Lim Kim Hong said i-City has experienced steady footfall growth, especially since the opening of its subsidiary DoubleTree by Hilton i-City in July last year.

“The success of I-Berhad lies upon the synergy between its property development, property enhancement as well as leisure and hospitality segments.

“Last year, we allocated RM10 million towards enhancement of our leisure segment with the enhancements’ projects taking shape this year, we will be seeing the addition of a 4,654-square metre indoor Xcite Park and a 5-dimension snow experience centre on top of lightscapes,” he said in a recent statement.

Lim said the enhancements, together with a pipeline of high-value retail tenants for Central Mall i-City and i-City Finance Avenue, will create a tighter synergy with DoubleTree by Hilton i-City with its 1,700-square metre meeting space for activities such as meetings, incentives, conventions, exhibition and annual events.

“These developments will create reasons for high-value visitors from far and wide to come and spend their time at Ultrapolis. This will eventually benefit the business community within i-City,” he said.

The group announced its year-long “One Shah Alam, One Destination” programme which will kick off next month.

“There is plenty of space both in the physical and virtual realms which we can explore opportunities to grow together and create a more inclusive environment at i-City to benefit the community and contribute towards the socio-economic progress of the capital city of Selangor, Shah Alam,” Lim said.

The group announced that its shareholders approved all resolutions on the agenda at the company’s recent AGM.

In its first quarter ended March 31, 2023, the group recorded a lower net profit by 52.96% to RM675,000 compared with RM1.44 million in the previous year’s corresponding quarter. Revenue rose to RM44.46 million from RM18.25 million.