Melaka  is planning to re-strategise the tourism marketing plan by focusing on South-east Asian countries particularly Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Brunei following the novel coronavirus outbreak in China.

Muhammad Jailani Khamis, chairman of State Tourism, Heritage and Culture Committee Datuk  said as Chinese tourists account for the biggest number of visitors to Melaka, dependence on tourist arrival from the country would need to be relooked.

He said the last-minute cancellations by Chinese tourists affected hotel bookings and sale of entry tickets to tourist destinations in the state.
“The coronavirus threat has indeed affected the tourism sector in Melaka as most of the reported cases are in China and have been detected in other countries.

According to Melaka Tourism Promotion Division, from January to September last year, the most number of tourists who visited the state were from China with two million arrivals or 40.22 per cent; followed by Singapore with 718,000 or 17 per cent; and Indonesia 417,000 or 10 per cent tourist arrivals.