Malaysia's ancient entrepot slowly back to life

Undeterred, domestic tourists like Esther Ang Woon Ai from Kuala Lumpur and Iman Cullen Cornelius from the northern Terengganu state visited the area during a recent weekend, looking to break the monotony of a normal life.

Ang, 19, said she had decided to come down to enjoy the food and to visit local friends, noting that while the crowd was small, the attractions remained just as good and were more accessible.

"The crowd here is actually much lesser compared to the normal times, but I still feel it is a very nice place to visit for tourists," she said.

Tourism, Heritage and Culture Committee chairman of Malacca state Muhammad Jailani Khamis was quoted as saying by state news agency Bernama recently that the state's tourism had recovered with an influx of 8,000 tourists per week by August, particularly on weekends and public holidays.

Tourism is a major contributor to Malaysia's economy, making up 15.9 percent of Malaysia's GDP in 2019, up from 15.2 percent in 2018, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia.

The contribution of domestic tourism spending towards overall tourism consumption increased to 50.9 percent in 2019, outpacing the inbound tourism expenditure by foreign tourist for the first time since 2005. The trend is good news for Malaysia's tourism industry, as foreign tourists are still not allowed to enter the country to prevent imported COVID-19 cases.