JEDDAH, 20 April 2004 — Malaysia’s oldest state is aiming for a slice of the tourist traffic from Saudi Arabia.
Only 1,200 Saudi tourists visited Melaka in 2003, out of nearly 30,000 who went to Malaysia. Melaka wants to change this, Muhammad Ali bin Muhammad Rustam, Melaka’s chief minister, told travel agents here Saturday night.
“Our second revenue source after industry, which produces from small aircraft to garments, is tourism,” he said.
Melaka altogether received 3.6 million tourists, demonstrating that tourists from elsewhere see it as an essential destination. Now the state wants Saudis to see it the same way.
The chief minister said Melaka offered the same attractions as the rest of Malaysia — history, culture, recreation, health, spas, shopping, sports, trade fairs and conventions.
Despite the SARS scare that prevented many people from traveling to the Far East, there was a 16 percent increase in traffic from Jeddah to Malaysia, the Far East and Australia in the period April to December 2003, according to Morad Omar, area manager of Malaysia Airlines, for Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and Yemen.
“We were affected by SARS in April, May and June of that year and also the war in Iraq. The three-month SARS period was very bad for us, but from July onward the traffic picked up,” Morad said.
“Barring unforeseen problems, we expect a 25 percent increase in traffic from Jeddah,” he added.
