Exploring SeIVice Quality in Homestay Tourism -a Case of Malaysia- = Exploring SeIVice Quality in Homestay Tourism -a Case of Malaysia-

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

One of the new tourism products in Malaysia is Homestay, a combination of tourism and recreation. Tourists will experience the daily life of ordinary people operated by small-time famlers and villagers, monitored andassisted by the Federal Government of Malaysia, via the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism and nOlmally operated under minimal fund. Literally the Homestay services are a holiday concept that started in Europe in the late 70``s. Homestay is where tourist gets to stay with a selected family fi``om a different background and culture for duration of time. Additionally, tourists will experience the daily life of locals. Meaning to say, when tourist go for vacation or holiday to one place, instead of staying inthe hotel, tourist can choose to stay with foster families nearby tourist visited sites. The impact of the Homestay service industJy``s activities in Malaysia are tJ``emendous where the business generated an income of more than RM200,OOO in the first seven months of 2006, which involving 5,519 tourists of which 1,736 of the tourist were the foreigners comingfi``om Emope, Japan and Korea. Due to that reason, it is impol1ant for the Homestay providers to focus on their customers``need and requirements while staying and experiencing Homestay programme. TIlLIS, this paper investigates the perceptions of pelfol111ClIlCe from a variety of Homestays available in Malaysiaspecifically in Selangor fj``om the tourist``s perspective. Four well-known Homestay operators were chosen which are Banghuris, Dorani, Sungai Sireh and Kuala Langat Homestay. A total of 200 questionnaires were distributed and analysed. The questionnaire comprises three sections. The first sectionis to measure the respondents`` expectations of the service quality that dley received in any Homestay programme. The second section is to measure the respondents`` expectation of the ervice quality that they received in any Homestay program. And finally,section three is the demographic profile of the respondents. The respondents wereasked to rate the service quality on a seven Likelt scale, ranging fi``om1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree) for section one and also ranging fj``om I (extremely dissatisfied) to 7 (velY satisfied) for section two. 1l1is questionnaire was constructed based on five dimensions of SERVQUAL which are tangibles (9 questions), empathy (5 questions), assurance (5 questions), responsiveness (5 questions) and reliability (6 questions). The results suggest that for attribute tangible, empathy and assurance, the performance equals perceived expectation. For attJ``ibutes, responsiveness and reliability, the performance is below perceived expectation. Darani``s Homestay was voted the highest therefore considered the Homestay provider is able to meet with the expectations of the tourist on the variables or attributes identified. This obviously requires Homestay providers`` commitment to invest in relevant human capital in order to provide dle highest standard of service to consumers.