Kuala Lumpur WFGT Conference seeks answers to elevate visitor experience
Why would more than 70 people from 16 countries travel thousands of kilometres to Kuala Lumpur to spend several days talking about towers?
The answer has little to do with just height.
On Tuesday, September 15, representatives of 25 iconic towers gathered at the Petronas Twin Towers for the opening of the World Federation of Great Towers (WFGT) Conference 2026.
They had travelled from across the world to Kuala Lumpur for something that cannot be measured in metres.
They had come to learn from one another.
To challenge old ideas.
To share what works — and examine what no longer does.
And, perhaps most importantly, to ask a bigger question: what should the visitor experience look like in the future?
For the people gathered in Kuala Lumpur, the world's great towers are no longer simply extraordinary structures rising above city skylines.
They are living destinations.
They are places where architecture meets tourism, where technology meets storytelling, and where a visitor's memory of a city can begin — or end — at the top of a tower.
And as cities change, so do the people who visit them.
Visitors today expect more than a view. They want experiences that are meaningful, memorable and personal. They want to understand the place they are standing in, not simply photograph it.
That is the challenge facing the operators of the world's great towers.
Crafting extraordinary experiences that bring towers to life
Jean-Yves Ghazi, Executive Director of the World Federation of Great Towers, put that challenge into perspective.
The towers represented in WFGT may stand in different cities, countries and continents, he said, but they are connected by something more powerful than their physical dimensions.
“We may represent towers standing in different cities, countries and continents,” Ghazi said.
“But we are connected by something much more powerful: a shared belief in excellence, a passion for creating extraordinary experiences, and an ambition to reach higher — quite literally and figuratively — in everything we undertake.”
Ghazi puts it succintly: Our responsibility is not simply to operate great towers.
It is to ensure that these extraordinary places continue to inspire, educate, connect and create memorable experiences for generations to come.
A tower can tell the story of a city
Earlier, at the opening session held at the Malaysian Petroleum Club in Tower 2 of the Petronas Twin Towers, Datuk Sr Mohd Salem Kailany, Group Chief Executive Officer of KLCC (Holdings) Sdn Bhd, spoke about the wider role of iconic landmarks.
“When we speak about tourism and destinations, we cannot overlook the role of iconic landmarks,” he said.
“A great tower does more than define a skyline. It can define a city. It can become a symbol of national identity, a gateway for international visitors and a catalyst for tourism, businesses and economic activities.”
That idea is particularly relevant to Kuala Lumpur.
For nearly three decades, the Petronas Twin Towers have been more than two striking structures on the city's skyline.
Since their completion in 1997, they have become one of the most recognisable symbols of Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia — an image seen around the world long before many visitors ever set foot in the city.
But a landmark becomes truly powerful when people can step inside its story.
“It can bring people together, create shared experiences and become part of the stories that visitors take home with them,” Kailany said.
And every tower has a different story to tell.
“Around the world, each tower represented within WFGT carries its own story. They stand in different cities, serve different communities and operate within different environments.
“Yet they share something fundamental: they are more than structures. They are landmarks that connect people with place.”
Malaysia's three towers
Malaysia brings three members to the WFGT community: the Petronas Twin Towers, Kuala Lumpur Tower and Kuantan 188.
Together, they offer three very different expressions of what a tower can mean to a destination.
The Petronas Twin Towers represent the modern identity of Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia.
Kuala Lumpur Tower rises above the city's urban forest and offers a different perspective of the capital — one in which the city and its greenery meet.
And Kuantan 188 brings the tower experience to the east coast, overlooking a city shaped by its river, coastline and surrounding landscape.
Different towers.
Different cities.
Different stories.
Why Kuala Lumpur matters
That is what makes the WFGT Conference 2026 particularly significant for Malaysia.
Founded in 1989, the World Federation of Great Towers now brings together 52 tower members across 25 countries, collectively welcoming more than 45 million visitors each year.
For a few days, those towers have effectively brought their cities to Kuala Lumpur.
Their operators, tourism professionals and industry leaders have come not simply to admire one another's architecture, but to exchange ideas about the future of attractions.
For Malaysia, the timing is equally important. Malaysia is duly represented at the WFGT board by Dato Zulkifli Mohamad, managing director of Kuantan 188.
The conference takes place during Visit Malaysia 2026, placing Kuala Lumpur at the centre of an international conversation about tourism, destinations and the future of visitor experiences.
Officiating the conference was YB Datuk Lo Su Fui, Deputy Minister at the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories), who highlighted the wider significance of bringing global landmark operators together in Malaysia.
“The presence of global industry leaders at this conference reflects the significance of these iconic landmarks as enduring symbols of the cities and countries they represent,” he said.
“While you come from different cultures, operating environments and communities, you are united by a common purpose: strengthening the role of iconic landmarks as drivers of tourism and economic growth.”
And perhaps that is the real reason the world's great towers came to Kuala Lumpur.
Not to compare who stands tallest.
But to discover how, in a rapidly changing world, they can make people feel something when they look up.
Because the future of the world's great towers may not be measured by how high they rise.
It may be measured by how far and deeply their stories reach.
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