Its minister Mohamaddin Ketapi said the ministry aimed to improve the country’s position after being ranked 12th last year.

He said Malaysia was on the right track to achieve the target as it had recorded 8.47 million tourist arrivals in the first four months of the year.

“At the national level, we have set a target of having 33.1 million foreign tourist arrivals this year,” he said when opening the 2018 national-level celebration of the International Museum Day at Banda Hilir here tonight.

Also present were Melaka Chief Minister Adly Zahari and Museum Department director-general Kamarul Baharin Kasim.

A total of 37 museums across the country are participating in the celebration from July 21 to 29, involving various programmes, including exhibitions and seminars.

Mohamaddin said Melaka was the second most popular tourist destination in the country after Kuala Lumpur with 16.79 million tourist arrivals recorded last year.

This was an increase of 3.15% from 2016.

“I’m very confident that Melaka will easily achieve its target of recording 17 million tourist arrivals this year,” he added.