'Golden' weekend for hoteliers as tourists return to Melaka

MELAKA: Traffic jams and tourists returned to the historical city as hoteliers reported high occupancies this weekend.

Melaka Tourism Association (MTA) acting president Sazali Sabri said hoteliers reported brisk business since Friday (July 3).

"It's considered a 'golden' weekend for hoteliers.

"We hope this trend continues and Melaka tourism would be back to normal," he said in an interview on Sunday (July 5).

Sazali said the crowd were mostly locals, patronising tourist hotspots.

"We should thank the tourism players who pooled their resources to make this happen," he said.

For instance, Sazali said the MITC Hotel in Ayer Keroh introduced local dishes like "Kari Kepala Ikan Asahan" (Asahan fish head curry) as part of a recovery movement control order (MCO) promotion.

"We are going on a blitz to keep Melaka as a beacon of tourism," he said.

Meanwhile, Melaka Tourism Business Club vice-chairman Dennis Samford said the traffic bottleneck on Saturday (July 4) and Sunday was an indication that Melaka is still the top destination for locals.

Samford said such traffic jams were last witnessed during the 2019 school holidays.

"Locals used to sigh previously on seeing such traffic bottlenecks but now rejoice to witness it," he quipped.