Over in Malaysia, a beautiful country in Southeast Asia, there’s a city that may attract dark tourists rather than regular holidaymakers. Brits visiting the nation – known for its stunning beaches and rainforests – usually hop over to Kuala Lumpur or Rending Island rather than the "creepy" Forest City.

The hyper-modern complex has been dubbed a "ghost city" due to its tiny population and abandoned shopping centres and homes. Forest city was opened to the public in 2016 having being built by China’s largest property developer Country Garden.

The city cost a massive £78.9b to create in Johor – the southern tip of Malaysia. At the time, China’s property boom was in full swing and developments were being created abroad for middle-class buyers in China to buy as second homes – the apartments were far too expensive for almost all Malaysians to purchase.

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Forest City was supposed to be a luxury hotspot filled with a waterpark, golf course, offices, bars and restaurants. Almost one million residents were expected to move in and turn the coastal city into a popping destination – but that never happened. Instead, it's become a "ghost town" with a handful of regretful residents.

Many years on, just 15% of the development has been completed. Not only that, but just over 1% is actually occupied leading Forest City to be a desolate waste town with nothing to do and empty shops, discarded venues and closed down bars.

Nazmi Hanafiah, 30, moved to the city a year ago but regrets his choice. He told BBC: "To be honest, it's creepy. It was such a bad experience. There is nothing to do here. I didn't care about my deposit, I didn't care about the money. I just had to get out." He noted that the city gives him "goosebumps" and was a "ghost town" that he managed to "escape".

The city has everything a holiday resort could want – playgrounds, a beach, vintage cars and water. But, it appears shabby and abandoned, crocodiles live in the water and stairwells lead to nowhere. Now, it seems the city attracts shoppers looking to indulge in its Duty Free status – empty booze bottles line the beach and locals drink in the streets.

At night, the city becomes even more disturbing as there aren’t enough lights on to give the place any life! The resort still hopes to complete its build and attract more buyers, but for now there are no people populating the area, there are few attractions and it seems destined to become another of the Chinese market’s ghost towns….

Currently, there are around 50 abandoned towns in China with 64 million empty apartments, reports Chinosity. These include Tianducheng in Hangzhou – a city based on Paris in France.

The city features beautiful French-style buildings, parks and water fountains and even a fake Eiffel Tower. However, tourists who visit note that it’s filled with empty streets, abandoned apartments and cobweb covered shops.

It is believed that China has built many of the ghost cities in preparation of a housing shortage across the nation. Developers believe that at some point people will flood into the ghost towns bringing them to life.

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