On 7-9 March 2020, a group of 16 students from Diploma Tourism Management students went for a homestay program to Kampung Lonek, Negeri Sembilan. This program aims to gives exposure to tourism students to understand the history, culture and lifestyles of Kampung Lonek, to experience Negeri Sembilan traditional dances (Tarian Endang), traditional music instruments (Caklempong), and cooked traditional food (Mengacau Dodol).
Students also experienced traditional games and sports during the program such as Tarik Upih, Boling Kelapa, Semakin Jauh Semakin Sayang and Mengocha Ikan (catch fish by hand).
Other than that, students get a chance to experience the economic activity in Negeri Sembilan such as rubber tapping, and Mengemping Padi during the 3 days programme. Students also visited attraction nearby in Kampung Lonek and visited SME factory.
Lastly, before the program end, students experienced a tree planting programme which is to give awareness of Environmental Preservation. Tourists who visited homestay are encouraged to plant trees at their homestays with the aim of preserving the environment and further beautifying the landscape of the homestays.
Homestay programme gives tourists the opportunity to stay with a foster family, interact and experience the daily life of their homestay family and learn the culture and lifestyle of the rural community in Malaysia. A homestay programme cannot be classified as a lodging facility. It focuses and offer more on lifestyle and experience, including cultural and economic activities.
Each homestay programme offers different types of activities, depending on the culture, food, economic activity as well as location. Every state in Malaysia has its own uniqueness in terms of culture.
The field trip to Homestay Kampung Lonek for this semester will cover about recreational activities in tourism industry which is under subject of Recreational Tourism. Students can learn about community-based tourism, ecotourism, cultural and heritage tourism, agro tourism as well as the planning and management to operate a Homestay programme. This field trip can give a lot of good exposure to tourism students to understand more about tourism and hospitality industry in Malaysia.