Indonesian Tourists Making Beeline To Malaysian Homestay Packages

By Ahmad Fuad Yahya
BOGOR (Bernama) - Indonesian tourists are making a beeline to
Malaysia's famous homestay vacation programme, thanks to last year's
promotional campaign conducted in the republic.

For the first time last year, 3,478 Indonesian tourists participated in the
programme.

That positive response prompted the Malaysia Homestay Association (MHA) to
intensify its promotional campaign by offering more variations in its homestay
packages.

"Prior to this, we only offered three homestay vacation packages, namely
homestay and medical, homestay and shopping and homestay and education.

"Now, we are introducing another package, that is homestay and golf," MHA
president Shahariman Hamdan told reporters here Wednesday.

Currently, he is leading a 50-member delegation in organising the Friendship
Gold Tournament to promote the Malaysian homestay programme at the Bogor Raya
Golf Club here.

The tournament is the third in its series, following those in Pekan Baru
and Permata Sentul early this year.

The fourth tournament is scheduled for June at the A'Famosa Resort, Melaka,
followed by Bali (August) and another venue in Sumatera (October).

"Between 2010 and 2012, our focus is on the Indonesian market because,
despite being a neighbouring country, the Malaysian homestay products need to be
more popular that they are currently.

"Alhamdulillah (Praise be to Allah), with the more aggressive campaign held
last year, we have recorded 197,000 foreign tourist participations in our
homestay vacation programmes, 3,478 of whom were first-timers from Indonesia,"
he said.

He said 50 per cent of the Indonesian tourists were from Sumatera, 20 per
cent from Kalimantan and the rest were from Pulau Jawa.

Shahariman, who is also homestay operator in Desa Murni, Temerloh, Pahang,
has expressed confidence that Malaysian homestay products were suitable for the
Indonesian market.

However, he said all operators should be more creative and offer varied
packages to lure Indonesian tourists to enjoy the homestay programme in
Malaysia.

For example, he said, they could also emulate the homestay honeymoon
programme which he introduced in Desa Murni and had become the hot-selling
package among tourists from Japan and Singapore.

He said the association had also set a target of luring 10,000 tourists from
Indonesia this year, adding that it appointed local agents, non-governmental
organisations and religious movements to expand its marketing network in the
republic.

"Our target is not only to lure tourists, but also to bring people in
the two neighbouring countries closer so that we can understand each other
better," he added.