Conference LIS 2022 @ Kota Jambi, Indonesia.

E-ISSN : 2985-4393

ESD 001 :
360° Virtual Video Fostering Homestay Survival

Mazlina Jamaludin1
1
Department of Tourism and Hospitality, Politeknik Sultan Idris Shah
mazlinajamaludin1973@gmail.com

Nor Rahimy Khalid2

2
Department of Commerce, Politeknik Nilai
nor_rahimy@polynilai.edu.my

Mazura Stapa3
3
Department of Civil Engineering, Politeknik Kota Kinabalu
mazuracch@gmail.com

ABSTRACT. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of using 360° virtual video to
promote Sungai Haji Dorani Homestay in Sabak Bernam, Selangor, Malaysia.
Quantitative study was conducted using several interview sessions with the owner of
the Sungai Haji Dorani Homestay. The interview sessions were aimed to understand
the homestay owner’s situation during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Virtual
reality 360° video for Sungai Haji Dorani Homestay was developed to promote and
foster the survival of the homestay. A set of questionnaires was developed to evaluate
the usefulness of the video. The result revealed that the video provides good
information, knowledge, environment, and activities for potential visitors to book a stay
at Sungai Haji Dorani Homestay. The Virtual reality 360° video provides a great
opportunity for Sungai Haji Dorani Homestay to be viewed by both local tourists and
international tourist, thus promotes the diverse culture of multiracial community in
Malaysia.

KEYWORDS: 360° virtual video; homestay

1 INTRODUCTION

Homestay is categorized as community-based tourism. It strengthens community

engagement, community empowerment besides improve standard of leaving among local
communities (Kontogeorgopoulosa et al., 2014). The Homestay Programme in Malaysia
provides visitors an experience to interact and feel the daily lives of their homestay family.
Tourist can learn the culture and lifestyle of the rural community. Tourism is one of the
industries that generates income (Goffi et al., 2019). Thus, homestay as community-based
tourism generates revenue as a source of income to the community. That offers extra income
to the community that depend mostly on agricultural.

However, between the year 2020- 2022 the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) has
cause severe economic repercussions across the world including Malaysia. The occurrence
has poses extreme challenges for homestay survival in Malaysia. Sungai Haji Dorani
Homestay in Sabak Bernam, Selangor, Malaysia is one of many operators that face
difficulties to survive. The declining income and arrivals of tourists for homestay progammes
in Selangor, Malaysia has triggered many local authorities to look for ways to recover their
wellbeing. State of Selangor, Malaysia recorded a cumulative income that falls drastically to
RM98,618 (2021); RM252,255 (2020); RM924,459 (2019); RM1,624,595 (2018);
RM1,833,436 (2017) among the homestay operators. (Kementerian Pelancongan, Seni &
Budaya Malaysia, 2022). This has created an urgency among all individuals, government,
and private agencies to look for ways to recovery Malaysia economy. Local dialogs, forums
and seminars are some of the many ways to gather information to draw recovery strategic
plans.

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The state government has launched many initiatives to regain homestay operators.
One of the many initiatives was an online portal created by the Sabak Bernam district council
to promote surrounding local businesses including homestays. A common 2-dimensional
(2D) video was used to market and promote the destination (Kelling et al., 2018). However,
the video was not attractive enough to captivate tourists’ interest to visit Sabak Bernam.
Virtual reality using 360° virtual video is seen as a better way to promote the destination in
social media. The use of 3D virtual reality 360° was more thrilled (Rhee, 2017). This
advanced medium is expected to widen the tourists’ perspectives and enhance their
experiences while browsing online information. This paper is intended to assess the
effectiveness of 360° virtual video for Sungai Haji Dorani Homestay during Covid-19 crisis.

2 LITERATURE

Homestay is a tourism concept that requires the tourist to stay with the host family to
experience the local culture (KC, 2021). Homestay is usually available at suburban area;
thus, it provides economic benefits to the community, social-culture and environment. It is a
community-based tourism that promotes ‘Halal Tourism’ in Malaysia (Aziz et al., 2018). Halal
tourist is expending as the population of the Muslims is expanding worldwide. Tourism is
expanding due to leisure time, growth of income and improvement in accessibility and
accommodation. Nowadays tourist would like to gain experience during holiday that part of
weekend gateway.

Homestay needs a promotion tool; thus 360° virtual video is the perfect solution that
is compatible with the current situation. It requires internet connectivity, and nowadays
almost everyone owns a smartphone. 360° virtual video is one of the brunches of virtual
reality (Shahryar et al., (2017). VR is an artificial, computer-generated simulation or
recreation of a real-life situation that enable the users’ vision and hearing to experience real-
life situation. The users’ vision and hearing experience simulated first hand reality. 360°
virtual video created engagement experience. It creates unique immersive experience for
viewers to spark imagination (Kauhanen et. al, 2017) . The use of mobile phone or virtual
reality headset can increase 3-dimensinal experience. However, the 360° virtual video is
limited to certain angle. User can see real-world view by navigate using right, left, up, down
motion and zoom in and out the 360-degree videos to view scene. 360° virtual video is a
powerful tool promoting homestay and destinations. Potential tourist may explore the area
of interest without going there (Kelling et al., 2018).

Information process model will be used to guide this study. Information retrieved from
watching 360° virtual video will stimulate working memory in the brain in shorter time as
compared to information from still pictures (Vanderbrouchke et al., 2014). Humans have
longer memory to store information obtained through videos. Humans process information
using sensory memory, working memory and finally long-term memory. After watching the
360° virtual video of Sungai Haji Dorani Homestay, viewers will sketch their conscious
thought (Chatham et al., 2015). Only then, it will take them to decide whether to continue
their desire to book Sungai Haji Dorani Homestay or another homestay based on their desire
that could fulfil their needs and wants (Lara & Wallis, 2015).

3 METHODOLOGY

A 360° virtual video for Sungai Haji Dorani Homestay was designed and developed.
The seven minutes video contains a lot of information such as attractive home facilities such
as room amenities, locations, room service, courtyard view, balcony, car park, restaurant,
garden, room rate, activities, and surrounding environment. The aim of Sungai Haji Dorani
Homestay 360° virtual video tour to promote its to promote the homestay with a target to
increase the number of receipts. The 360° virtual video must be very colourful and radiant
colour. It features immersive and realistic experience at the Sungai Haji Dorani Homestay.
The complete 360° video is uploaded in YouTube and share in social media platform to
promote the homestay (Kelling et al., 2017; Kelling et al., 2018). Through this 360° video,

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potential visitors will get a glimpse of reality about the place they want to stay. Tourists can
also view and analyse information in detail by watching this 360° virtual tourism video
compared to viewing regular photos or videos. Therefore, visitors can make quick decision
about the homestay.

Researcher conducted a quantitative survey among tourists staying at Sungai Haji

Dorani homestay. A set of questions were developed to evaluate the effectiveness of the
360° virtual video that was created to promote the Sungai Haji Dorani Homestay in Sabak
Bernam, Selangor during COVID-19 crisis. The questionnaire consists of; a) Establishment,
b) Services, c) Host provider, d) Price, e) Novelty, f) Hedonism, and g) Social value. The
questionnaire will be distributed using goole form for tourists who have visited Sungai Haji
Dorani Homestay to fill in their responses.

The questionnaire items were adapted from Duman and Mattila (2005), Jamal et al.
(2011), Sanchez et al. (2006) and Rasoolimanesh et al., (2016). The questionnaire was
organized into two sections: respondent profile and perceived value dimensions. Both
questionnaires were measured using a 5-point Likert scale, with 1 strongly disagree, 2
disagree, 3 neutral, 4 agree and 5 strongly agree (Hair, 2018 et al.,). The reliability analysis
for questionnaire survey, the construct namely, a) establishment is α = 0.86; b) service is α
= 0.81; c) host provider is α = 0.85; d) price is α = 0.88; e) novelty is α = 0.91, f) hedonism
is α = 0.85; g) social value is α = 0.86. These results indicate that all questions are significant
and reliable for the study. The questionnaire was distributed to previous tourists who has
watched 360° virtual video Sungai Haji Dorani Homestay and visited Sungai Haji Dorani
Homestay during the crisis. Respondents received Google Form questionnaire through
‘WhatsApp’s’ application and fill up their responses.

4 RESULTS

4.1 Demographic Profiles

Most respondents aged range from 21-30 years old (n = 25, 49.0%), second highest
aged range from 30 years and below (n = 18, 35.3%), third highest aged range is 31-40
years old (n=6, 11.8%), and the least aged are between 41-50 years old (n=1, 1.95%) and
aged 51-60 years old (n=1, 1.95%). The proportion of female (n = 27, 50.9%) and male (n =
26, 49.1 %) respondents was almost equally distributed. Most of the respondents were from
Malay ethnic (n=51, 96.2%); Chinese ethnic (n=1, 1.9%); and Indian ethnic (n=1, 1.9%). The
highest respondent answer is 3 days 2 nights (n=26, 51.0%), Second highest is 2 days 1
nights (n=22, 43.1%) and 2 days 2 nights (n=3, 5.9%).

4.2 Descriptive Analysis

Descriptive analysis has been used to analyze quantitative data. Table 1 display the
mean score and standard deviation of respondents between variables. Based on the
analysis, the response rate was 95% because there are 73 respondents’, but 2 respondents
did not complete the survey.

C1 (Video 360° application usage can help you to realistically explore the
homestays.). The mean score of this item is m=4.52, thus it indicates that this application is
favoured by respondents because respondents can scroll the pictures in 360° view which
created excitement to explore the services offered by this homestay. C2 (Use of 360° video
helps you to get information about homestay freely without time and place constraints). The
mean score for this item is m = 4.46 which indicates that the respondents agree this video
do help in providing information related to Sungai Haji Dorani Homestay without time and
place constraints. C3 (The use of this technology helps you to learn more about the
homestay). The mean score for this item is m = 4.56 which indicates that the respondents
agree that the use of 360° video can provide more information about Sungai Haji Dorani
Homestay without having to go there compared to using regular video. C4 (The use of this
technology helps you to know more about the activities available in the homestay. The mean

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score of this item is m = 4.52 which indicates that the respondents agree that with the use
of technology such as 360° video in Sungai Haji Dorani can show all the activities offered by
homestay clearly. C5 (The use of Video 360° inspires the homestay environment). The
mean score for this item is m = 4.53. Indicates that respondents like the use of this 360°
video because it inspires prospective tourists to come to Sungai Haji Dorani Homestay. C6
(This 360° video approach enhances knowledge of the place environment by simply
watching videos). The mean score for this item is m = 4.49 which indicates that respondents
agree that using this 360° video approach can increase knowledge about the environment
of Sungai Haji Dorani Homestay.

Table 1: Means for survey

Codes Item Std. Deviation Mean
C1 Application .66 4.52
C2 Information .70 4.46
C3 Technology .62 4.56
C4 Activities .66 4.52
C5 Environment .66 4.53
C6 Knowledge .70 4.49
N=73

Based on the link, this video was evaluated using survey. The result of the survey
to evaluate this video is revealed in the table 2 below. Evaluation of the virtual video is
revealed in survey no 2. Most respondents, item C1, Application (Video 360° application
usage can help you to realistically explore the homestays). Strongly disagree and disagree
(n = 0, 0%), neutral (n = 7, 9.6%), agree (n = 21, 28.8%), strongly agree (n = 45, 61.6%).
Strongly agree is the highest score. Strongly disagree and disagree were the lowest score
among all scales. C2, Information (The use of 360° video helps you get information about
homestays freely without the time and place constraints). Strongly disagree, and disagree
(n = 0, 0%), neutral (n = 9, 12.3%), agree (n = 21, 28.8%), strongly agree (n = 43, 58.9%).
Strongly agree was the highest score. Strongly disagree and disagree was the lowest score
among all scales. C3, Technology (The use of this technology helps you to know more about
homestay). Strongly disagree (n = 0, 0%), disagree (n = 0, 0%), neutral (n = 5, 6.9%), agree
(n = 22, 30.1%), strongly agree (n = 46, 63.0%). Strongly agree was the highest score.
Strongly disagree and disagree were the lowest score among all scales. C4, Activity (The
use of this technology helps you to know more about the activities available at the
homestay). Strongly disagree (n = 0, 0%), disagree (n = 0, 0%), neutral (n = 7, 9.6%), agree
(n = 21, 28.8%), strongly agree (n = 45, 61.6%). Strongly agree was the highest score.
Strongly disagree and disagree were the lowest score among all scales. C5, Environmental
(The use of this Video 360° inspires the homestay environment). Strongly disagree (n = 0,
0%), disagree (n = 0, 0%), neutral (n = 7, 9.6%), agree (n = 20, 27.4%), strongly agree (n =
46, 63.0%). Strongly agree was the highest score. Strongly disagree and disagree were the
lowest score among all scales. C6, Knowledge (This approach to 360° video enhances
knowledge of the environment of a place by simply watching the video). Strongly disagree
(n = 0, 0%), disagree (n = 0, 0%), neutral (n = 9, 12.3%), agree (n = 19, 26.1%), strongly
agree (n = 45, 61.9%). Strongly agree was the highest score. Strongly disagree and disagree
were the lowest score among all scales.

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Table 2 : The effectiveness of 360° virtual tourism for Sungai Haji Dorani Homestay
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
Variables (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)

C1 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 7 (9.6%) 21 (28.8%) 45 (61.6%)

C2 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 9 (12.3%) 21 (28.8%) 43 (58.9%)
C3 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 5 (6.9%) 22 (30.1%) 46 (63.0%)
C4 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 7 (9.6%) 21 (28.8%) 45 (61.6%)
C5 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 7 (9.6%) 20 (27.4%) 46 (63.0%)
C6 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 9 (12.3%) 19 (26.1%) 45 (61.6%)
n=73

5 DISCUSSIONS

This study confirmed that 360° virtual video can be the best tool to promote the uniqueness
of Sungai Haji Dorani Homestay at a fair cost for operators. 360° virtual video gives a wide
view of the environment to enhance tourists’ excitement. It allows viewers to watch videos
more actively rather than just passively viewing (Gomez, 2020). The viewers feel their
presence at the place. Thus it will attract the viewers to visit the tourism destination.
Consumer purchase intention is important that will lead to purchase behavior (Khalid et al.,
2018). Thus the 360° virtual video that promote Sungai Haji Dorani Homestay will influence
the viewers and direct them to visit the homestay. 360 virtual video integrate four elements
that influence the experience of presence: control, sensory dimensions, distraction, and
realism that argued by Witmer et al. (2005). The interaction of various visual, audio, and
kinaesthetic VAK stimulates viewers that create an intention. The desire of intention is
important in promoting the tourism industry specifically homestay that lead to purchase
intention or visiting the place.
360° virtual video is easy to use and can be browsed on websites via smartphones,
tablets, and computers at any time. The approach applied in this 360° virtual video blends
visual, audio, and kinaesthetic (VAK) learning styles. This can reduce extensive use of time
and cost developing advertisement because this video gets real experience, as if they are
in Sungai Haji Dorani Homestay (Jamal et al., 2011). 360° virtual tourism video is the current
world of virtual reality which is very helpful in promoting the industry in Malaysia. Researcher
found that 360° virtual video gave strong impacts to the tourism destination itself.
Importantly, 360° virtual tourism video was proven to be able to increase the number of
tourists who visited Homestay Sungai Haji Dorani. 360° virtual tourism video also found that
the tourists were able to look around the homestay and learn new things from the video such
as the activities and facilities provided and even their surroundings (Che et al., 2019). This
is also confirmed by Rahimizhian et al., (2020) that 360° virtual video is able to attract the
tourists that shape their attitude and intention to visit the place. Thus, it is an excellent
promoting tool and with the power of social media and viral marketing, the viewers for the
360° virtual video will multiply. Consequently, tourists may feel more confident to choose
Homestay Sungai Haji Dorani as their destination for holiday considering their activities and
environment. They become more interested to feel the experience themselves, especially
those who love to learn traditional activities. Homestay tourism is important for the local
economy besides environmental sustainably as it is rich with nature.

6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to acknowledge Arief Rahman Muhammad Ridzuan Ting, Nur Shafika
Aripin, and Siti Qamarina Suhaimi , students from the Department of Tourism and Hospitality,
Politeknik Sultan Idris Shah, Malaysia for their contributions in realising Homestay Sungai
Haji Dorani. 360° virtual video for this research.

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