When heritage becomes a product: the Atkinson Clock Tower

The Atkinson Clock Tower is still free to visit. In November 2025, a RM11.96 million upgrade added the Signal Hill Trail alongside it. The trail is ticketed. The tower square is not. How those 2 things coexist will define what the site becomes.

In November 2025, Dewan Bandaraya Kota Kinabalu (DBKK) reopened the site after a RM11.96 million upgrade. The main addition is the Signal Hill Trail, a 500-metre elevated walkway from the tower square to the Signal Hill Observatory Tower. The trail is ticketed through SabahTravel.com from 1 December 2025, open daily from 7am to 7pm. Visitors can also reach the Signal Hill Observatory Tower on foot via the motorist road sidewalk for free.

Other works include slope stabilisation, drainage, better lighting, OKU-friendly access, and public toilet upgrades. The tower was not rebuilt.

What the tower is

The clock tower is the oldest standing structure in Kota Kinabalu. Built in 1905 to commemorate Francis George Atkinson, the first District Officer of Jesselton, it was funded by public donation, not by government. Atkinson died of malaria in December 1902, aged 28.

Kota Kinabalu was heavily bombed during the Second World War. Only 3 pre-war buildings survived. The clock tower is one of them, and is gazetted under the State Heritage Enactment 2017.

Touristic commodification

Touristic commodification happens when a place stops serving local residents and starts serving visitors. It does not require bad intent. A site can be well restored and still make this shift.

When that shift happens, the measures of success change. Visitor numbers, revenue, and time spent on site replace everyday community use. The regular users are not removed. They stop being the priority.

A placemaking lens

Placemaking is how urban designers shape public space around how people use it. A good public space works without a programme. People arrive for different reasons, stay as long as they want, and use it on their own terms.

The tower square fits that description. It is open, free, and anchored by a structure with 120 years of civic history. The Signal Hill Trail is different: it has a fixed route, a ticket, and a set opening time. Both sit on the same hill, but one is a place and the other is a product.

How it applies here

The upgrade was timed for the tower's 120th anniversary. The works had been long delayed. The Signal Hill Trail was not designed around a tourism campaign. It was designed to attract tourists as a deliberate and permanent addition to what the site offers.

The Signal Hill Trail is now the site's main attraction. Ticketed entry and a booking system make this a managed destination. The tower square remains free, but the overall site now operates as a designed visitor experience.

The Borneo Post described the tower as "a storytelling anchor for city trails." That is the language of tourism planning. It is not the language of a neighbourhood landmark.

Commodification of this kind builds on itself. More visitors create demand for more facilities, which cost more to run, which need more visitors to fund. No single decision triggers the change.

What to watch

The Signal Hill Trail is now part of Kota Kinabalu's tourism infrastructure. It is listed on booking platforms and marketed to visitors arriving in the city. That is permanent. It is the site's new operating condition.

Before the upgrade, 2 free routes led up the hill. The motorist road sidewalk remains. The ground-level jungle trail from Jalan Dewan, beside the DBKK community centre, is gone. The Signal Hill Trail now runs through the same forest. The road sidewalk is infrastructure. The jungle trail was the experience. They are not the same.

The tower square is the clearest indicator of intent. It costs nothing to enter. It has no set route or closing time. If it stays that way, used casually by residents alongside visitors, the site retains its public character.

If the square is gradually reshaped around the Signal Hill Trail, with seating, signage, and programming oriented toward ticket holders, the placemaking will have given way to tourism management. That shift would not require a single decision.