KOTA KINABALU: Sabah has a total of 459 homestay participants in 37 registered homestay clusters, said Assistant Tourism, Culture, and Environment Minister Datuk Joniston Bangkuai.
The breakdown of clusters in districts is as follows: Kota Kinabalu (3); Kota Belud (9); Papar (2); Kota Marudu (1); Kuala Penyu (1); Beaufort (1); Kinabatangan (4); Kudat (1); Lahad Datu (3); Penampang (1); Pitas (1); Ranau (2); Semporna (1); Sipitang - Long Pasia (1); Tambunan (2); Tuaran (2); and Tawau (1).
Emphasising the collaborative efforts to support local homestay operators, Joniston highlighted the close partnership between his ministry and the Tourism, Arts, and Culture Ministry (Motac), which serves as the national coordinator for homestay initiatives.
He added that Motac's role in offering various training courses aimed at enhancing homestay participants' skills in areas such as digital marketing, language proficiency, and environmental sustainability, among others.
"Simultaneously, Motac maintains engagement with homestay cluster coordinators to gather feedback and identify issues, including current concerns like scams and fraud," he said at the state assembly sitting here, on Thursday.
"Motac has developed a website for the Malaysian homestay experience programme, where a list of homestay operators can be accessed to guide users and tourists," Joniston said, replying to a question by Datuk Dr Yusof Yacob (GRS-Sindumin) on homestay activities in Sabah.
Joniston added that Sabah was seeing a growing trend among European tourists towards nature-focused experiences, with rural areas becoming increasingly popular as destinations of choice.
ENDS.