The state government has received an additional RM2 million from the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culure (Motac) to promote Visit Melaka Year 2024 (VMY2024).

Its minister, Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing said it was in support of the hard work of Melaka to bring in tourists to spur the state’s economy.

“Congratulations to Melaka especially the exco who worked tirelessly with Motac to promote Melaka and Malaysia to China.

“His aggressive promotion abroad to attract tourists to Melaka will contribute to the state’s economy,” he told reporters after the launching ceremony of Visit Melaka Year (VMY2024) and the 2024 New Year’s eve celebration at Pangkalan Rama, Melaka here last night.

Commenting further, he said Motac is ready to assist all states including the four states which are implementing 2024 Visit Year namely Melaka, Perak, Perlis and Kelantan to achieve their tourist targets as planned.

“Apart from Melaka, only Perak expressed its interest to apply for additional funds for the purpose of promoting the state’s tourism.

“In Perak tonight, they just officiated VPY2024 and if they come to discuss programmes or promotion, we will look into that and help where possible,” he said.

Meanwhile, Melaka Chief Minister Datuk Seri Ab Rauf Yusoh said the additional funds are good news and will boost the VMY2024 promotion and programmes.

“This also shows that Motac always supports the state government in promoting the tourism in the state which has a Unesco recognised heritage city which needs to be preserved to be passed down to future generations.

“I really appreciate it and thank Motac which has worked really hard with the state government to promote VMY2024 and preserve the world heritage site recognised by Unesco,” he said.

Earlier, nearly 40,000 visitors cheered the launch of VMY2024 at Pengkalan Rama, here.

The celebration which started with a procession which saw Melaka Governor Tun Mohd Ali Mohd Rustam, Ab Rauf and Tiong being ferried in a decorated boat to the main stage and the occasion was also attended by state department and agency heads.

The celebration was also broadcast live to Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China, which has a population of 58 million.