Teraju aims to upgrade Sabah's Homestay industry

KOTA KINABALU: The Unit Peneraju Agenda Bumiputera (Teraju) is aiming to upgrade the Homestay industry in Sabah.

Bestari delivering his keynote address

Realising the potential of economic improvement in the Homestay industry, many initiatives have been initiated to ensure the resilience and sustainability of Homestay, particularly in Sabah.

According to the Director of Teraju Economic Corridors Programme, Bestari Abrar Nasiruddin, the government, through Teraju has identified Homestay as an industry which can boost up the income of Bumiputera entrepreneurs in the tourism sector.

“This is in line with Teraju’s objective towards Vision 2020 to ensure the participation of Bumiputeras in Malaysian economy via balanced representation in employment with higher income, targeting Bumiputera owned companies as well as driving entrepreneurship,” said Bestari.

Speaking at the launching of the Strategic Workshop of Upgrading the Homestay Industry here yesterday, Bestari also said that homestays have been a favourite for tourists especially from developed countries such as Australia, USA and Europe.

“Homestay is one of the tourism products which is getting popular in Malaysia and it was introduced to give the opportunity for tourists to interact and experience the culture of local communities,” he added.

Citing the amount of the Homestay tourists to Sabah in the year 2010 and 2011, he compared the significant rise recorded at 17,528 and 34,578 respectively.

Most compelling is that this part of the tourism sector has brought in RM3.4 million in earnings for the state in 2011.

Additionally, he said that many agencies such as the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment, Ministry of Tourism Malaysia (MOTOUR) Sabah and Sabah Tourism Board are offering ongoing support for the industry to grow beyond local markets.

Amongst the objectives of the workshop are to provide a platform for Homestay entrepreneurs to discuss about the issues and challenges in the industry as well as to identify the solutions to the issues mentioned.

Speaking on Teraju, Bestari said that Teraju has initiated a blueprint entitled ‘Hala Tuju Transformasi Ekonomi Bumiputera’ which outlines a specific initiative to ensure the Bumiputera participation in the economy to be enhanced.

“Teraju also will help the Bumiputera entrepreneurs by providing enablers to assist them to step up to the next level and to break new ground,” he said.

To date, about 350 of Bumiputera-owned companies are expected to compete with other companies not only in Malaysia but also globally.

Bestari also added that the Bumiputera equity ownership also has increased from RM127.4 billion in 2008 to RM167.7 billion in 2010.

“These statistics clearly show our efforts to improve the economic position of the Bumiputeras.”

“However, a lot needs to be done in order to achieve the target of 30 per cent equity in the year 2020, which is less than 7 years from now,” he added.

Also present were Director of Strategy and Project Management cum Chief of Teraju Tourism Sector, Salween Ahmad Taufik; Senior Associate Director of Institute for Development Studies (IDS) Sabah, Jenny Liaw. and Programme Coordinator, Yusuf Wahid.