"Village Stay" To Make Use Of Empty, Abandoned Houses

KUALA LUMPUR, July 5 (Bernama) -- Empty and abandoned houses in villages can be a new source of extra income for villagers as the Tourism Ministry plans to have a new category called "village stay", Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen said on Monday. She said that compared to homestay, village stay would only provide the basic necessities without the choice of having the experience and engaging in activities with the home owners.

"Maybe you want to do other things (own activities) but you want to stay in the village and don't want the homestay experience," she said after meeting 64 Indonesian homestay participants here. She said, however, the ministry would hold discussions with the Malaysian Homestay Association so that they could understand the purpose of having a village stay. "Maybe they have 40 tourists. The village can only provide facilities for 20 people. So, maybe, that accommodation (village stay) can provide some sort of complementary support," she said. Ng said 17,842 foreign tourists had experienced homestay in the country in the first four months of this year, besides 52,575 Malaysians.

On another matter, Ng said she had explained to Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia the conflicting answers given in the Dewan Rakyat with regard to Malaysia's pavilion at the Shanghai World Exposition. "The answer to Fong Po Kuan (DAP-Batu Gajah) was very clear. It is RM20 million for building, RM15 million for management ... for example opening ceremony, national day, closing ceremony, the cultural group and all. It is very clear when the combined cost is RM35 million," she said. Last week, Teresa Kok (DAP-Seputeh) had demanded action against Ng on the grounds that her ministry's written reply to Fong on June 15 had stated the cost of the pavilion as RM35 million but Deputy Tourism Minister Datuk Dr James Dawos Mamit had told the Dewan Rakyat that it was RM20 million. "The deputy minister answered according to the question: how much was the cost to build. It cost RM20 million to build," Ng said.