Challenges and community development: A case study of Homestay in Malaysia

Homestay programme, which was introduced in 1988, has become the iconic rural tourism product highlighting Malaysian cultural and traditional ways of life. The concept of Homestay is whereby a tourist stays together with the host family and interacts with the local community for a reasonable charge. This paper presents a review of community development through the Homestay programme in Malaysia as well as to review challenges facing the Homestay operators and community. Due to the potential of homestay in providing additional income and employment within the community, more participants have become motivated and encouraged to run the Homestay programme. Research methodology using content analysis approach was adopted in analyzing the data. The study revealed the many aspects of development, issues and challenges arising encompassing the stakeholders namely the Homestay operators, community and government agencies.