Understanding the Tourism Business Ecosystem for Pondokstay

Malaysia remains among the top 5 Muslim destinations in 2019, and the demand for Islamic tourism products has attracted much attention from international and domestic tourists. In response to this and to revitalize Islamic tourism landscapes, the concept of pondokstay will be introduced for the first time in 2019. Initially, the concept of pondokstay refers to the availability of facilities and a series of activities conducted in schools that are close to the well-known concept of homestay. Guests have the opportunity to immerse themselves in an authentic Islamic environment, but to date, there is no universally accepted definition. However, there are many challenges for the school. Previous research has found that an additional element is required during production because the main business of the school is education, which is only teachers and students, but pondokstay requires more elements. So, an existing education entrepreneur transitioning to a tourism entrepreneur needs a different business ecosystem. Articles from three types of tourism, namely Islamic, educational and spiritual tourism, are revised to characterize pondokstay. Face-to-face in-depth interviews were conducted with five qualified informants based on documents of the state religious authority. They are selected according to specific criteria, such as the school’s establishment period and the number of employees and students. The responses were manually transcribed, grouped, coded, and thematized. Based on the analysis conducted, three themes emerged to describe pondokstay, namely the establishment factors, the programs, and the facilities required. In addition, there are ten subthemes that were categorized into fifteen indicators.