MELAKA: The tourism sector in Melaka will be opened to the people of the state starting tomorrow following Melaka's transition to Phase Three of the National Recovery Plan (PPN).

State Tourism, Heritage and Culture Committee chairman Datuk Muhammad Jailani Khamis said among the activities allowed are tourism and culture while adhering to the standard operating procedures (SOP) set.

"Only 50 per cent of tourists are allowed to be in a premises and tourists must put on their face masks, practise social distancing and good hygiene.

"The opening of the tourism sector also involves tourism products that are listed as positive and tourism products that are listed as negative like entertainment clubs and night clubs are not allowed," he told reporters when met at Seri Negeri here today.

Muhammad Jailani said among the tourism products that would be opened to the public are zoos, farms, aquariums, snorkeling, scuba diving, fishing, edutainment centres, recreation parks, extreme sports and natural parks.

Art, culture and heritage premises such as museums, libraries, Hang Tuah Village, art galleries, cultural heritage art centres and villages as well as cultural performance stages, theme parks and family entertainment centres were also allowed to operate.

Elaborating further, Muhammad Jailani said they would monitor the progress of the sectors to ascertain if there was an increase in positive COVID-19 cases in the state within two weeks before deciding to open the sector to tourists outside of Melaka.

He also hoped that the specific SOP for the Melaka tourism sector from the National Security Council, (MKN) would be announced soon.

"Tourism or heritage spots in Melaka are located in a relatively narrow and concentrated areas unlike in Langkawi, Genting Highland and Pulau Tioman, so we must be careful as it involves public safety," he said.

Earlier, Muhammad Jailani who is chairman of the Board of Directors of the Melaka Museum Corporation (Perzim), signed a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) which was represented by its vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Wahid Razzaly.

The signing ceremony was witnessed by Melaka Chief Minister Datuk Seri Sulaiman Md Ali.

Meanwhile, Sulaiman said the MoA was aimed at implementing development, inspection guidelines and evaluating damages at every heritage building in Melaka.

The agreement also involved a study of indoor air quality in heritage buildings specifically in terms of moisture and materials due to the usage of air-conditioning and the resilience of the Stadthuys building involving work process and implementation work proposals, rescue and rehabilitation procedures as well as planning and implementation of all research, development and commercialisation.

-- BERNAMA