MELAKA: Thousands of visitors started converging on 10 popular tourist spots in Melaka early this morning after the state government waived entrance fees in conjunction with the state public holiday commemorating the Independence Declaration of the Federation of Malaya today.
The 10 locations are the Melaka River Cruise, Taming Sari Tower, museum under the Melaka Museum Corporation (Perzim), Melaka Zoo, Al-Khawarizmi Astronomy Complex, Melaka Wonderland Theme Park and Resort, Melaka Marine Park, five Melaka State Golf Clubs, Melaka Prison Museum and Malaysia Heritage Studios.
A check by Bernama at the Melaka Zoo in Ayer Keroh found that nearly 20,000 visitors had flocked to the second-largest zoo in the country as of 2 pm today.
Melaka Zoo director Zanariah Khamis said the response from visitors exceeded expectations, with some visitors queueing up from 6 am, resulting in the zoo management having to start operations an hour earlier at 9 am.
“Although admission is free, visitors still need to queue up to facilitate the collection of their data and to ensure that only Malaysians are allowed free entry, while foreign visitors need to pay to enter,“ she told Bernama today.
Zanariah also said that apart from having six ticketing counters operating today compared to four for regular operations, they also opened the main entrance and additional gates to facilitate the entry of visitors into the conservation centre.
She said a total of 100 Melaka Zoo staff, assisted by 30 volunteers, 20 Hang Tuah Jaya Municipal Council enforcement personnel and 10 policemen, were on duty to ensure the smooth operation.
Meanwhile, Malaysia Heritage Studios (MHS) corporate communications officer Aqashah Ghazali said visitors started queueing up as early as 7.30 am although the new tourist destination, formerly known as Mini Malaysia and ASEAN Cultural Park, opens at 10 am.
He said that although only one ticket counter was opened, everything went smoothly, with over 2,000 visitors recorded as of noon.
“We are targeting over 5,000 visitors and will have two sessions to enable our staff to carry out cleaning work between 12.30 pm and 2 pm. We also stationed our staff at the main entrance to prevent traffic congestion,” he said.
A check by Bernama found that there was traffic congestion of over four kilometres in both directions to the two tourist destinations starting at 8.30 am today.
The climax of the celebration commemorating the Independence Declaration of the Federation of Malaya today will be held in front of the Proclamation of Independence Memorial in Banda Hilir. -Bernama