SUBMARINE MUSEUM TARGETS 500,000 TOURISTS

March 18, 2012 12:57 PM
Submarine Museum In Melaka Targets 500,000 Tourists, Visitors By Year End

MELAKA, March 18 (Bernama) -- The submarine museum featuring the French made SMD Ouessant (Agosta 70 class) submarine, is expected to attract about 500,000 tourists and visitors to Melaka by end 2012.

The submarine museum project in Melaka, costing RM12.5 million, had come under heavy criticism and deemed a waste of money by some.

Melaka Museum Corporation general manager Datuk Khamis Abas said from Jan 1 to March 14, the
museum had attracted 53,737 tourists and visitors and the figure could reach 500,000 by year end.

"Among them were 10,000 tourists," he told Bernama here.

He added that based on the popularity and returns generated, the cost of bringing the SMD Ouessant Agosta 70, a submarine formerly owned by the French navy, from Brest, France to Melaka at a cost of RM12.5 million has become irrelevant.

Apart from being a museum, the submarine museum also acts as an information centre for visitors who are interested to know about submarines, in detail.

-- BERNAMA