The Melaka government will foster cooperation with the provinces of Pekanbaru and Dumai in Indonesia to obtain manpower to fill vacancies in the hospitality and health tourism sectors in the state.

State Tourism, Heritage and Culture Committee chairman Datuk Muhammad Jailani Khamis said the two sectors were experiencing a shortage of manpower, especially among locals.

“We have four private hospitals and Melaka is known for health tourism apart from having many hotels. However, we are facing some problems as the local workforce shunned the minimum wage.

“So, one of the solutions is to provide opportunities to Indonesian students to undergo their internship in Melaka, maybe for a period of six months in both sectors,” he told Bernama after officiating the Melaka Coffee Festival 2022 here today.

Commenting further, he said the cooperation would be discussed with representatives of relevant agencies in Indonesia during his week-long working visit to Jakarta starting tomorrow.

He said the discussion would also involve post-Covid measures to revive the tourism industry in Melaka and Indonesia, especially in the health tourism sector.

In another development, Muhammad Jailani said tourism industry players in the state were reminded of consistent implementation of the standard operating procedures (SOP) to prevent the spread of Covid-19

“We can see that tourist arrivals to Melaka have increased, especially in the first month of this year, but we also need to ensure that the SOP is complied with as the daily number of Covid-19 cases is increasing.