MELAKA: The Melaka government will cooperate with the Pekanbaru and Dumai regions in Riau, Indonesia in reviving their respective tourism sectors which have been impacted by the effects of Covid-19.
State Tourism, Heritage and Culture Committee chairman Datuk Muhammad Jailani Khamis (pix) said the cooperation would be sealed via a business-to-business memorandum of understanding (MoU) expected to be held in September depending on the Covid-19 situation.
He said the MoU would stress on a cooperation to develop tourism products, namely, electric bus and health tourism.
“We have secured a spot at the Sultan Syarif Kasim II Airport in Pekanbaru for the Tourism Promotion Division (BPP) of the Melaka Chief Minister’s Department to promote tourism products in the state especially our private hospitals and tourism elements encompassing 13 sub-sectors.
“The Riau Province has a population of 11 million people. To a certain extent, they will be able to help the tourism sector after Covid-19 if we can lure them to Melaka,” he said after handing over the Jalur Gemilang to trishaw riders for the National Day celebration in the Stadthuys compound in Banda Hilir here, yesterday.
At the programme organised by BPP, with the co-operation of the Office of the Yang DiPertua Negeri of Melaka, 12 trishaw riders received the Jalur Gemilang and souvenirs from Tun Mohd Ali Mohd Rustam which were handed over by his special secretary, Datuk Nur Azmi Ahmad.
In another development, Muhammad Jailani said the state government would also launch the “Rindukan Melaka’ (Pining for Melaka) campaign in November to revive the state tourism sector.
He said for starters, the campaign would target domestic tourists when Melaka steps into the Second Phase of the National Recovery Plan (PPN) soon.
In the meantime, he said over 300 trishaw riders in Melaka would be supplied with a kit to help prevent Covid-19, worth RM70 to RM100 to be used when the state tourism sector is allowed to open.
-Bernama
