Sunday, February 22, 2009

Homestay

Homestay is a form of accommodation where the tourist can live with the chosen host family and has the opportunity to interact as well as experience the daily way of life of the family and culture directly.

The Homestay Programme was introduced by the Ministry of Tourism, Malaysia in 1988 as an effort to diversify the tourism products through the provision of an alternative accommodation for tourists. This programme was officially launched in 1995 at several locations including Desa Murni, Kerdau, Temerloh, Pahang, by the Minister of Tourism, Arts, and Culture. This programme falls under the Rural Tourism Master Plan which was developed to encourage the participation of rural community in the tourism sector.

Through this programme, tourists will have the opportunity to enjoy a relatively cheap vacation that is different. It gives the opportunity for the tourists to stay with a host family that participates in this programme, and experience how the host family members live their daily lives thus enhancing their knowledge on the life style and culture of local residents at the destinations that they visit.

The Homestay Programme is an alternative tourism product that has the potential to attract tourists since there is a marked increase in the demand by the international tourists for tourism that has the characteristics of increasing knowledge, including observing, experiencing, and learning the way of life of the local residents at the destinations that they visit.

In addition to being an alternative tourism product that offers a vacation with a relatively low cost to the tourists, the Homestay Programme is also a strategy taken by the government to improve and develop the standard of living of the rural community through their involvement in the planning and development of tourism. Therefore, the Homestay Programme can also be considered to be a community project that can instil unity among its members and at the same time drive toward the advancement of the community.

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