Kota Kinabalu: The Tourism Ministry will no longer allow rented houses or places to be used as homestays for tourists or visitors as this is against the real concept of the programme, said Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen.

"Some people have misunderstood the homestay programme. (And) now renting houses is said to be a homestay É this is not a homestay and the Ministry will not allow this (practice) to continue," she told a press conference after meeting Sabah tourism players at Wisma Tun Fuad Stephens, Monday.

Ng said a homestay is not about low budget or cheap accommodation, but about an experience as people, particularly from developed countries, want want to know/experience how people are living or what life is like in a country.

"We will identify all the good homestays which provide programmes for the people who come in to stay there. The homes provided under the homestay programme must be owned houses, cannot be a rented house or rented place," she said.

It must be owner-occupied, she explained, saying the houseowner involved must interact with the people who stay, provide them food, talk to them, show them what they do, the kampung lifestyle and the culture of the place.

Ng said a homestay must also include the participation of the whole village (where the homestay programme is being organised), where the village also plays a role in providing programmes or activities for the tourists/visitors.

"I have asked all the states that do homestays to come up with activities such as rubber-tapping if there is a rubber farm nearby, cocoa plucking, paddy planting/harvesting or others," she said, adding many people still do not know what cocoa or even how the cocoa tree looks like.

Like in Kelantan where the homestay participants are shown how to make a Wau Bulan (kite). Similarly in Sabah, homestay participants can be introduced or taught how to make a traditional craft or product.

Also teach them to sing one traditional song like "Sayang Kinabalu" or the "Jambatan Tamparuli", she said.

Or a traditional dance which the host can teach the homestay participants, adding these are things which are easy to teach and make their stay more interesting. Teaching them at least one local recipe would also be a plus point.

"Let them do conservation work like tree planting, which can give them a sense of belonging to the place and make them feel they are a part of it and will come back.

"So this is the new direction of homestays. It is not just about having a home for tourists/visitors to come and stay with the host family, but about the experience," said Ng.

The Minister was, nevertheless, happy that Sabah has a very successful homestay programme, saying at the moment three very successful homestay programmes in Sabah are the Misowalai, Walai Tokou and Misompuru homestays.

"Sabah has everything, except snow, as what I told people when I went to Europe," she said, adding Sabah needs more accommodation for all types of tourists.

Ng said the Ministry has also introduced a twinning country concept to boost the homestay promotion campaign.

"For Sabah, we will twin the state with Singapore because there Bahasa English and Malay are more easily used É we will take the homestay programmes in Sabah and promote them to the twinning country, Singapore," she said.

Ng said Sabah ranks among the world's top three in terms of diversified flora and fauna, particularly with its beautiful marine biodiversity, but these need to be supported with the good-quality accommodation and hospitality services.

Also the services of the tour operators as presently there are 378 tour operators in Sabah.

"The number is quite big É we will monitor them carefully because firstly, we do not want them to just have a licence but not do anything. We want them to provide the best services."

Ng said the Ministry is also developing a second language training programme for existing tour guides as well as for new unemployed graduates who would like to become tour guides with a second language.

Unemployed graduates who are interested can register with the Ministry, she said, adding the training would be provided by the stimulus package under the Human Resource Ministry.

"Sabah is really one state where the world would want to come to and they would want to be guided by somebody who not only knows the place well but can converse É so this is one area where I want to talk with the Minister in charge here," she said.

Source: Daily Express Sabah
(Tuesday, 9 June 2009)