MALAYSIA'S TOURISM MINISTRY TO ACT AGAINST FRAUDULENT HOMESTAY PROGRAMMES

KOTA BAHARU (Malaysia), Jan 14 (Bernama) -- The Tourism Ministry is to act
immediately against fraudulent homestay programmes before the scam undermines
the tourism industry, Minister Dr Ng Yen Yen said Friday.

She said she had instructed the enforcement division of the ministry to
identify these fake programmes and act against them.

"Perhaps the ministry can require all homestay programmes to register with
it and rebrand them to enable the tourists to differentiate between the real and
the fake.

"Right now, there are no specific laws for the government to act against the
fake homestay operators, but the matter has to be tackled for the tourism
industry to grow," she told reporters after a meeting with officers and staff of
the ministry in Kelantan and Tourism Malaysia Kelantan, here.

Kota Baharu is the capital city of Kelantan, an east coast state in
Peninsular Malaysia.

Ng said operators of fake homestay programmes did not live in, contrary to
the objective of the programmes, and did not fulfil the criteria as promoted in
the package.

"Tourists must understand that in a homestay programme, the owner of the
house lives in and takes the tourists through the package of activities," she
said, adding that tourists had complained of having been cheated.

Ng said eight villages in Kelantan offered homestay programmes operated by
161 home owners who made available 194 rooms.

Last year, she said, 1,193 foreign tourists and 1,148 domestic tourists
participated in the homestay programmes, bringing in returns of RM1.17 million
(US$1=RM3.05).

Ng said Kelantan had the potential to draw more tourists, particularly from
Singapore, and the ministry had launched a homestay programme incorporating a
train journey in October last year to boost the potential.

"Tourist information centres were visited by 2,149 tourists from Japan,
China, Canada, Australia, Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom, indicating an
interest in the tourism products of Kelantan," she said.

-- BERNAMA