The challenges of community-based homestay programme in Malaysia
Community-based tourism (CBT) is viewed as a tourism development that can benefit the members of the community, particularly in rural areas.In Malaysia, the community-based homestay programme (CBHP), which is a collective project undertaken by community members, is promoted to rural villages by the...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Conference or Workshop Item |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2010
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://repo.uum.edu.my/15264/1/2011.pdf http://repo.uum.edu.my/15264/ |
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| Summary: | Community-based tourism (CBT) is viewed as a tourism development that can benefit the members of the community, particularly in rural areas.In Malaysia, the community-based homestay programme (CBHP), which is a collective project undertaken by community members, is promoted to rural villages by the Malaysian government as a development strategy.In fact, the homestay
programme has the potential to generate additional income for the villagers and provide an avenue for them to participate in tourism development. It also offers cultural exchange between the hosts and the guests, and incorporates the surrounding environment, including farms and the rural landscape, as the main attractions. Nevertheless, these benefits cannot be sustained if challenges
are extensive.Community-based tourism will then be a failure.Hence, understanding the challenges faced by the homestay programme is mandatory
for planners and policy makers.This understanding enables them to react appropriately to achieve a sustainable community-based programme, which
can continuously develop the community members. Research on three homestay villages in Langkawi Island, Kedah and Selangor, which was undertaken in 2007, shows that homestay programmes are vulnerable to internal and external challenges. These numerous challenges are embedded in
the policy at the various ministerial levels, the system of the homestay organisations and the characteristics of the community members.A total of 90 interviews were undertaken in three homestay villages, in addition to another 10 interviews with representatives from the government and the Malaysian Homestay Association.Semi-structured interviews provided primary data for this study while secondary data was sourced from document analysis.Besides exposing the challenges, this paper provides an understanding in the
conflicts between various stakeholders in the community-based homestay programme. |
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