There had not been much change with the town center since our last visit. If anything, it had gone quieter. And we were talking December here, at the peak of the school holiday season.
At lunch, I spoke to the store owner. Apparently, business only picked up during weekends and even then it was pretty modest. During weekdays, she only served a la carte. Compared to last year, business had really suffered.
Visitors tended to stay only for the day, not spending the night. After all, you could reach KL in under 3 hours from here. Those who came, tended to bring their own food and had a picnic, skipping lunch. Business at night depended on those who stayed and on one of the evening when we went out for dinner, the food court was practically empty.
Visitors also spent less, only coming for photographs and then head off home.
We drove around the smaller roads up the hill where the corporate holiday bungalows were. They were either empty or not maintained. Some of them were in really sad state. Even the roads were not paved well and clearly lacked maintenance. The golf course also looked empty.
One would expect that with the economic downturn, those who usually spent their holidays abroad would try something closer to home. Clearly that has not caught on. For a place which depended solely on tourism, this was worrying. It would be a shame should the situation deteriorate further as it would start a downward spiral .....
