A total of 4.79 million tourists have visited Melaka in the first quarter this year, an increase of over 17% compared with 4.07 million visitors in 1Q2018. Melaka is targeting to attract 20 million tourists this year in conjunction with Visit Melaka Year 2019.

"The five top countries with the most number of tourists visiting Melaka are China with 46.2%, Singapore (17.31%), Indonesia (8.34%), Taiwan (4.6%) and Hong Kong with 3.05%," Melaka Chief Minister Adly Zahari said at the Seri Negeri Complex in Ayer Keroh.

He noted that domestic tourists remained the biggest contributors, with 3.4 million compared with 1.38 million foreign tourists.

"Melaka will continue to promote tourism with focus on 13 sub-sectors including history, culture, sports, health, agro-tourism as well as eco-tourism," he said.

He also urged homestay operators throughout the state to register with the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry to enhance safety.

"There are houses, apartments, bungalows and other residences in the state which have been converted into homestays by their owners but were not registered with the ministry, which made it difficult for the authorities to supervise, and poor quality of service jeopardised the image of the state tourism industry," he added.