ANÁLISIS DE LOS GENES IMPLICADOS

While the home-stay operators now say that “it is easy to run a home-stay”, they did

encounter some problems when first starting their home-stay businesses. The toilets were often not up to standard and had to be fixed. The locals use river water for washing, however as this would not be acceptable for tourists, they needed rainwater collection tanks. These were supplied by WWF to those home-stays that were first registered immediately after the WWF training. Some of the more recent homes to join the home-stay programme were also donated water tanks by one of the tourist lodges in partnership with Rotary International. However my personal experience suggests that these water tanks are not actively utilised by the home-stay operators and that the tourists are expected to use the river water for bathing. Language barriers were a major issue. The home-stay operators

88, 18.1% 5, 1.0% 11, 2.3% 8, 1.6% 374, 77.0% Lodge workers B&B Home-stay RAE Other - KOCP employees - Government salary - Government subsidies - Subsistence activities - Subsidised cash crops - Palm oil employees - Building

- Shops

- Transport services - Fishing

- smallholder palm oil - Leasing/selling land

were taught some very basic English which helped them to communicate with some tourists. However they still found it especially difficult to communicate with tourists from Japan for example. Hand signals and basic words such as ‘yes’ and ‘no’ were relied upon. Unfortunately interactions between the family and the guests are still kept to a minimum. The family does not eat with the guests, and verbal interaction is limited. This could be due to cultural differences and is surely accentuated by the language barrier.30

The five original home-stay operators that registered in 2002 attended training courses that were run by WWF. All those that attended were very positive about the courses, and believe that the content was beneficial for running a home-stay business. They were taught things such as bed-making, food preparation and improved sanitation. They were also given mattresses, water tanks, and helped with improving the sanitation levels of the home- stay. However further assistance has not been offered since then, and some of those who attended those training courses still have not received their certificates. Those home-stay operators who joined after this initial recruitment have not received any training or assistance; however they are very interested in receiving this. Currently they have to do everything independently. RAE uses the services of the home-stays to accommodate their guests, but have not offered any training or assistance.

The main obstacle that the home-stay operators currently face in the management of their home-stay business is that the guests are too irregular, and they can’t rely on it for their income. Some of the home-stay operators mentioned that they think the current home-stay rates are too low. All of the home-stay operators said that they would like to receive more guests. As there are not many ‘independent travellers’ to Sukau, some of the home-stay operators say that they are reliant on RAE.

“Currently we get our home-stay guests from RAE who will get the guests and pass them to the home-stay owners.”

However RAE does not receive many customers, therefore the home-stay programme can not only rely on this. More tourists stay at the lodges rather than the home-stays, and one

30 _{However in saying that, the home-stay experience of staying at Miso Walai in Batu Putih is markedly}

reason for this is that the tourists are not aware of the home-stay programme (Travellers, personal communication, July 2007). Some of the home-stay operators believe that there is an unfair distribution of guests. Those located away from the centre of the town receive fewer guests than those who are in the centre of the town. This is probably because when tourists first arrive in Sukau they get dropped off in the town centre and then look for a home-stay from there. Most of the home-stays currently do not have signs to inform tourists of their whereabouts.

Six home-stay operators in Sukau have ceased to receive guests; yet they all say that they plan to receive guests again in the future. A variety of reasons for their current status were given. In 2004 one home-stay operator became unavailable as they started a family and moved house. They were originally registered as home-stay operators under the parent’s home. When they moved the registration remained with the home of the parents, and they are now not registered to receive guests in their new home. Another home-stay operator stopped receiving guests in 2005 due to ill-health, while another operator stopped receiving guests in 2006 as his wife became pregnant. One home-stay operator is currently unavailable for receiving guests (as of 2006) as he is constructing a new home. Another one stopped receiving in 2006 as he is currently renovating the house and waiting to complete the repairs to the kitchen. One of the home-stay operators is currently leasing part of the house to a scientific researcher, and therefore is unable to accept home-stay guests.