Border reopening: Melaka to revitalise tourism promotion

MELAKA, March 9 -- The Melaka government will revitalise promotions to visit the main tourism destinations in the state following the government's announcement to reopen its borders on April 1 and, thus, achieve its target of 5.6 million visitors this year.

State Tourism, Heritage and Culture Committee chairman Datuk Muhammad Jailani Khamis said this included efforts to attract foreign tourists again, especially those from China, Indonesia, Singapore and Taiwan, who were the biggest group of visitors to Malaysia before the COVID-19 pandemic began and movement restrictions were implemented.

“Apart from that, we are also trying to target tourists from countries like Russia and The Netherlands, besides holding talks with their envoys in the near future so as to further increase the number of tourist arrivals from these countries to Melaka.

“Because of the Russia-Ukraine crisis, maybe the Russians won’t travel to countries in Western Europe, so Melaka must be prepared to receive them and it is hoped there will be no restrictions on them entering Malaysia,” he told reporters here today.

Elaborating, Muhammad Jailani said they would also focus on health tourism for foreign travellers, especially those from Indonesia, to obtain treatment at hospitals in the state through the checkpoints at the Melaka International Airport and Immigration, Customs, Quarantine and Security Complex (ICQS) at the Sungai Melaka estuary.

Meanwhile, he said the state government was also drawing up a strategy on domestic tourist exchange programme with other states in a bid to revitalise the inter-state tourism initiative.

“I feel that the time has come for us to carry out large-scale promotions to ensure the presence of tourists, especially in October, November and December and, thus, revitalise the industry,” he said.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the country would enter the ‘Transition to Endemic’ Phase and reopen its borders from April 1.

Ismail Sabri said the ‘Transition to Endemic’ phase was an exit strategy to enable Malaysians to return to almost normal life after two years of struggling with COVID-19.

-- BERNAMA