The Melaka government has established the World Tourism Melaka (WTM) secretariat in conjunction with the World Tourism Day (WTD) and World Tourism Conference (WTC) 2025 which will take place from Sept 27 to 29.

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Ab Rauf Yusoh said the secretariat would act as the governing body that would coordinate, monitor and develop the state's tourism, culture and arts sectors, especially for the WTD and WTC 2025 celebrations.

He said the secretariat is important to ensure the smooth running of all programmes planned by the state government or the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry since the WTD and WTC 2025 are international level programmes and involved many foreign delegations.

"WTD and WTC 2025 themed 'Tourism and Sustainable Transformation' is the largest tourism programme organised by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) in collaboration with the ministry and the Melaka government.

"This programme is expected to bring together more than 3,000 local and international participants from 159 member countries, in addition to involving more than 500 private sector participants from UNWTO and the ranks of tourism ministers, heads of national tourism organisations and several leading international tourism industry figures," he told reporters here today.

He said this after officiating the Melaka Government Administration Monthly Assembly for February 2025 organised by Putra Specialist Hospital which was also attended by the state Tourism, Heritage, Arts and Culture Exco Datuk Abdul Razak Abdul Rahman and WTM secretariat chief executive officer Norena Jaafar.

Ab Rauf said it is hoped the formation of the secretariat would drive the development of the tourism, culture and arts sectors through the creation of the Melaka State Tourism Strategic Plan.

Meanwhile, he said all heads of departments and civil servants in the state are expected to be aware of the organisation of WTD and WTC 2025 and thus become ambassadors to fully support all the implementation of programmes and campaigns.

He said all programmes implemented in conjunction with WTD and WTC 2025 would be able to boost the economy of the state as the host and thus drive the state's tourism sector.