Tourists’ Perceptions of Attraction Factors in Melaka

Abstract

The tourism industry is one of the largest industries in the world. In the increasingly competitive domestic tourism market, the emergence of various new tourism destinations with infrastructure and beauty gains a competitive advantage through repeated visits. As established, Melaka is recognized as the Historic State and has been declared by UNESCO as a World Heritage City (World Heritage). This is due to the strategic position along the Strait of Malacca that had made Melaka an important trading empire around the years 1300 to 1500. However, there were reports that recorded the decreasing number of tourists to Melaka during the first quarter of 2019 due to negligible branding, causing tourists especially domestic tourists, to switch to other states such as Penang and Sarawak. Thus, this study was conducted to identify the perceptions of domestic tourists to Melaka through factors such as destination, food, and infrastructure facilities. The research sample was consisted of 300 domestic tourists visiting Melaka. Data collection was done through a questionnaire form and distributed to domestic tourists visiting the state of Melaka. The data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 25.0 with the mean scores and independent t-test.  The findings of the t-test in this study are consistent with the finding made by the domestic tourists of Melaka, which indicated that there is no difference between male and female factors that attract domestic tourists. The studies revealed that gender does not bring change to the factors that attract domestic tourists. The results of this study can be utilized in facilitating the tourism industry, especially in Melaka, to grow more rapidly. Indeed, it is the responsibility of all of us as citizens not to overlook the tourism sector and to contribute to the process of running the tourist sector in our country. Overall, necessary feedbacks from the respondents were successfully obtained. Thus, it can be concluded that the objectives of the study had been successfully achieved.