So you think you can handle a successful homestay? Case Study: Kota Aur, Malaysia

Abstract

Malaysia is known as a country with rich cultural diversities. These diversities have brought up the variety of the tangible as well as the intangible elements. This uniqueness could be further explored by living with the local residents. Homestays are provided to accommodate the tourists who are willing to experience the traditional way of life by staying together with the host family in a reasonable price. In Malaysia, the emergence of homestay accommodation business is significant in bringing success to the tourism industry. Moreover, rural tourism business will revitalize the potential of local community as well as bringing additional revenue to the homestay owner. However, there are still some limitations in running a homestay business particularly when accommodating the foreign tourists. Lack of way finding signage and lacking of public facilities are some of the most common factors related with the infrastructure that need to be highlighted. Therefore, this paper reviews the significant factors that attract the foreign tourists in choosing homestay as their tourist destination in Malaysia. Kota Aur was selected in this study due to its rich historical significances. This traditional Malay village is located in the northern part of Malaysia and currently there are 15 families who participate in this homestay program. To obtain the primary data, interview was conducted with the foreign tourists as well as the homestay owners. The architectural styles and the activities conducted were documented as the secondary data. The issues and challenges that currently happened on Kota Aur homestays were also discussed. Hence, the finding of this study is expected to provide solutions for the improvement of the homestay owners in Kota Aur specifically and to all other homestay operators throughout the country in general