MELAKA: Tourist arrivals to Melaka, especially from Singapore, declined by an estimated 28% during the 2018 year-end peak period, and a tourism-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) claims this is mainly due to the recent spate of rallies and racially-tinged speeches by opposition leaders and Malay rights groups in the Klang Valley.
President of Melaka Tourism Business Club (MTBC) Chew Chert Fong (pic) said feedback based on hotel occupancies and from local tourism players showed that tourist arrivals peaked from Dec 22 to Dec 28, a far cry from previous years where holidaying started by the second week of the school break in November.