Melaka State Tourist Arrivals Jump 12.7 Pct for Jan-April

MELAKA, June 8 (Bernama) -- The total number of tourists visiting the state of Melaka rose to 5.38 million in the first four months of this year as compared to 4.77 million for the same period last year, said State Tourism, River, Beaches and Islands Development Committee deputy chairman Ghazale Muhamad. He said the increase of 12.7 per cent was very a big push for Melaka which was targeting 16.75 million tourists this year with domestic tourists being the largest contributor with 3.69 million as compared to 1.69 million foreign tourists in the first four months of this year. “On May 19, Melaka was listed in fifth spot in ' The World's Trendiest Holiday Destinations’ in a report of The British Post which opens a new dimension for tourists to continue choosing Melaka as the best holiday destination in the world,” he told reporters here Wednesday. Earlier, he had officiated an Empowering Seminar and Hari Raya (Eid al-Fitr) Contribution Presentation for 309 trishaw riders registered with Melaka Historic City Council as a trishaw ride is among the main tourist attractions in the state. Also present were Tourism Promotion Division general manager Norena Jaafar and Tourism and Culture Ministry director for Melaka, Jeffri Munir. Ghazale said the five main sources of foreign tourist were China with 30.45 per cent, Singapore (20.78 per cent), Indonesia (12.99 per cent) , Taiwan (3.86 per cent) and Japan (2.96 per cent). He said the state of Selangor contributed the the largest number of domestic tourists with 518,265 or 15.34 per cent. Therefore, he said all parties involved in the Melaka tourism industry need to promote cooperation to boost the development of the industry and attract more tourists to the state. Meanwhile, Ghazale said last year, the state government received 12 complaints involving the misconduct of trishaw riders. "From the total, seven involved trishaw riders going against the traffic flow and four for unreasonable charges and the remaining number involved verbal sexual harassment. “ In this regard, they were called and given warning not to repeat the offences as they are the industry’s frontliners and it is the responsibility of all to protect the image and to raise the prestige of the state tourism industry,” he said. -- BERNAMA