កលវិាល័យភូមិទភនំពេញ Royal University of Phnom Penh Perceptions of Owners on Pro-Poor Micro and Small Tourism Enterprise Development in Siem Reap: Challenges and Opportunities for the Poor in Food and Beverage Value Chain. NHEM Sochea Supported by: UNESCO Chair of the University of Bergamo, Italy March 2014
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សាកលវិទ្យាល័យភូមិន្ទភនំពេញmy supervisor Dr. Neth Baromey, Head of Tourism Department (RUPP) for exceptionally critical advice and
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សាកលវិទ្យាលយ័ភូមនិ្ទភនំពេញ Royal University of Phnom Penh
Perceptions of Owners on Pro-Poor Micro and Small Tourism Enterprise
Development in Siem Reap:
Challenges and Opportunities for the Poor in Food and Beverage Value Chain.
NHEM Sochea
Supported by: UNESCO Chair of the University of Bergamo, Italy
March 2014
សាកលវិទ្យាលយ័ភូមនិ្ទភនំពេញ ROYAL UNIVERSITY OF PHNOM PENH
Perceptions of Owners on Pro-Poor Micro and Small Tourism Enterprise
Development in Siem Reap:
Challenges and Opportunities for the Poor in Food and Beverage Value
Chain.
Researcher: NHEM Sochea
Supported by: UNESCO Chair of the University of Bergamo, Italy
March 2014
i
ABSTRACT
Micro and Small tourism enterprises is the backbone of tourism development in Cambodia.
Despite so, this form of development challenges myriad issues that need to be addressed in
order to expand further opportunities for the poor. RGC and other key stakeholders strike to
bring prosperous growth for all from the sector. However, the outputs from these efforts are
somehow skeptical. Poor and vulnerable are believed to gain minimal advantages from such
development. This is major reason this study is conducted. Specifically, it explores the
perceptions of restaurant owners on the poor and how can they contribute to support them
through ensuring employment while making benefit for their operation. This study employs
both quantitative and qualitative methods in collecting the primary data. For the data analysis,
SPSS and Thematic analysis are utilized.
The results reveal that micro and small tourism enterprises are main factors bridging the gap
between the poor (both local and new comers) and tourism industry as a whole. These
enterprises, despite limited benefits to the poor (low wages and other benefit are very flexible
and information), are highly recommended. Most of the respondents claimed that limited
qualification of their employees does not hinder them from being employed. This is mainly
due to the nature of micro and small tourism enterprises that are not picky in terms of
qualification. Other incentives may also be beneficial for the workers, even though there is no
clear written policy in regard to employment.
However, there are critical suggestions that employee‘s qualification need to be improved in
order to ensure better opportunities and pay rises. In this regards, government and NGOs as
well as small scale enterprises themselves need to work collaboratively to ensure prosperous
growth that benefit everyone in the industries, particularly the poor.
ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I am indebted many people whose guidance, advice and assistance have contributed
significantly to my research. First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere thanks to
my supervisor Dr. Neth Baromey, Head of Tourism Department (RUPP) for exceptionally
critical advice and guidance throughout the whole processes of my research. He was
enthusiastic and supportive to keep my writing move forward. Without his on-going
motivation and in-depth supervision, this paper might not have been possible.
Second, I would like to extent my heartfelt thanks to Professor Phal Des, vice Rector of
Royal University of Phnom Penh and the UNESCO Chair of the University of Bergamo, Italy
for granting my research.
Third, I really appreciate kind assistance from friends who were willing to support and give
critical suggestions during the process of my writing. In addition, I would like to thanks them
for their effort and invaluable time during my fieldwork.
Last but not least, without hesitation, I am indebted to my family, especially my beloved
mother, Chum Sothet and dearest wife, By Molyvann who constantly provide both spiritual
and emotional support during my thesis writing. This powerful strength paves me the way to
successfully finish my writing.
iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………………………………… i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ……………………………………………………………………….. ii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ……………………………………………………………………. vi
LIST OF TABLE ………………………………………………………………………………… vii
LIST OF FIGURES ……………………………………………………………………………… viii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………… 1
1.1. Research Problem …………………………………………………………………2
1.2. Purpose of the Study……………………………………………………………… 3
1.3. Study Objectives………………………………………………………………...... 3
1.4. Research Questions …………………………………………………………..….. 4
1.5. Significance of the Study …………………………………………………..……. 4
iv
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ……………………………………..……… 4
2.1 Overview of Tourism Development in Cambodia……………………...………... 6
In the wave of the new pro-poor tourism writings, however, informal tourism enterprises are
shown to assume a critical role in the livelihoods of poor communities and in the alleviation
of poverty. Especially in rural areas of the developing world, small firms linked to the
mainstream tourism sector may be extremely important in terms of their livelihood impacts
(Ashley et al. 2001; Shah & Gupta 2000). Roe et al. (2002) stresses that many people
participate in tourism through small enterprises, including selling drinks, food and crafts;
supplying cultural services — such as dance or music shows; or supplying inputs to
accommodation facilities, such as locally produced foods or building materials. Although
often either neglected by governments in tourism planning or viewed as a nuisance and
subject to official harassment, the role of informal and micro-enterprises is accorded
considerable focus in initiatives for developing a ―pro-poor‖ tourism agenda (Ashley et al.
2000, 2001; Goodwin 1998, 2000; Shah & Gupta 2000). Overall, it is contended that the
informal tourism sector is where opportunities for small-scale enterprise or labor by the poor
are maximized (Ashley et al. 2000: 3). Improving the access of local entrepreneurs to tourism
markets is therefore a critical element for poverty alleviation (Ashley et al. 2000, 2001;
Goodwin 1998).
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2.8 Pro-Poor Tourism Approaches within UNWTO Framework
According to UNWTO‘s pro-poor tourism mechanism, there are seven approaches
recommended for pro-poor tourism practices. (1) Employment of the poor in tourism
enterprises: this mechanism involves increasing the level of the poor in tourism workforce.
This could address poverty directly by enabling the poor to develop their own skills by
allowing for the possibility of a large number of people to benefit directly and raising the
standards of services. It is important that the provision of education and training is
strengthened so that the poor may respond to such opportunities, and any social or cultural
barriers are removed. (2) Supply of goods and services to tourism enterprises by the poor or
by enterprises employing the poor: one of the fundamental conditions to achieving poverty
reduction is in ensuring that goods and services in the tourism supply chain, as much as
possible, come from local resources at all stages. The objective would be to maximize the
proportion of tourism spending that is retained in local communities and to involve the poor
in the supply process. (3) Direct sales of goods and services to visitors by the poor (informal
economy): one of the main ways in which poor people seek to earn income from tourists is
through selling produce and services, such as fruits, vegetable, handicraft directly to them.
When visitors directly engage in this informal economy, it can be ideal in providing income
to the poor through their day by day expense. (4) Establishment and running of tourism
enterprises by the poor through micro, small and medium sized enterprises or community
based enterprises: this mechanism involves the establishment and management for more
formal tourism enterprises by the poor, either individually or at a community level. These
may include accommodation, catering, transportation… Local people have enough power to
control such enterprises and it is advantageous to reduce through their participation. (5) Tax
or levy on tourism income or profits with proceeds benefiting the poor: this aim at reducing
poverty through tax earned by national and local government. This also enables the poor who
15
indirectly involve in tourism benefit from such initiative. (6) Voluntary giving/support by
tourism enterprises and tourists: voluntary support in money or in kind by visitors or tourism
enterprises to the poor can act as influential drivers for local poverty reduction. Many tourists
are willing to donate something to the areas where they visit. (7) Investment in infrastructure
stimulated by tourism also benefiting the poor in the locality, directly or through support to
other sectors: Tourism development particularly in a new remote or rural area can include
investment in new infrastructure, such as roads, water and energy supply, sanitation and
communication. With careful planning, such infrastructure can also bring positive benefits to
the poor, by providing them with basic services and opening up new and faster routes to
access markets.
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CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1. Conceptual Framework
The idea about pro-poor tourism in food and beverage sector will be discussed in order to
establish a conceptual frame work for this study. It basically draws from 7 aspects of pro-
poor tourism mechanism recommended by UNWTO.
3.2. Analytical Framework
This study focuses on the expanding the poor‘s opportunities in tourism development.
Throughout this study, employment pattern of the poor, the access of the poor in tourism
activities will be explored with consultation from key actors in the sectors as well as
government policies.
Pro-poor
tourism
mechanism
Direct employment in tourism enterprises
Supply of goods/services to tourism enterprises by the poor
Direct sales of goods and services to visitors by the poor
Tourism enterprises run by the poor/community based tourism enterprises
Tax/levy on tourism income or profits with proceeds benefiting the poor
Voluntary giving/support by tourism enterprises and tourist
Investment in infrastructure that benefit the poor
17
3.3. Research Design
Primary Data Secondary
Data
Study Population
Siem Reap Town
Voluntary activities
by restaurant
enterprises to the
poor
Perception of
the owners on
the poor and
how they can
help in terms of
employment
Employment
characteristic and
micro and small
ventures by local
and poor people
Report, Journal,
Website
Pro-poor
tourism MSE
in food and
beverage
Tourism
development
Access of the poor
in tourism
employment in
Microand Small
restaurants
Voluntary activities
in the sector
Employment patter
of the poor in food
and beverage chain
18
The cross-sectional design is exercised in this study to obtain data. It is a one-time study and
best suited to the studies aimed at finding out the prevalence of a phenomenon, situation,
problems, attitude or issues, by taking a cross-section of population (Kumar, 1996). Both
quantitative and qualitative methods will be used in this study. The tool employed in this
study is semi-structure interview.
3.4. Sampling and Sample Size
This research study attempts to obtain information from restaurant operators in Siem Reap
province. Simple random sampling method is employed in this study to obtain the data from
micro and small restaurant operators. This sampling method allows each element in the
population to have an equal and independent chance of being selected. There two main
advantages of this sampling method – (1) it represents the total sampling population, so the
inferences drawn from the samples can be generalized to the total sampling population and
(2)some statistical tests based upon the theory of probability can be applied only to data
collected from random sample (Kumar, 1996).
The researcher uses Yamane formula to calculate sample size of the restaurant operators from
the total micro and small restaurant operators in Siem Reap. This formula is reliable up to
95% and the deviation factor is less than 10% (Israel, 1992)1. In addition to the study
purpose, three criteria is needed to determine the sample size – sampling error, confidence
level and the degree of validity in the attributes being measured (Miaoulis & Michener,
1976).
1 Glenn D. Israel, associate professor, Department of Agricultural Education and Communication, and
extension specialist, Program Evaluation and Organizational Development, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS), University of Florida, Gainesville 32611, retrieved 16 Feb, 2012 from
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pd006
19
n=N/ [1+N*e2]
Where
n= Sample size for this research
N= Number of small scale of restaurant
e= Level of precision (sampling error)
(90% confidence level and 10% sampling error were assumed)
3.5. Primary Data
Both quantitative and qualitative data will be collected to answer the research questions
above. Structured questionnaire is employed to obtain information form the micro and small
restaurants by using face-to-face interview. Restaurants which are considered MSE are
entirely based on a main criteria- number of employees which is less than 20.
3.6. Secondary Data
Researcher collects secondary data from journal, report and document from NGOs working
in tourism-related development project. There are some available documents from website
and the researcher also reviews prop-poor related concepts as well as MSEs and principles by
NGOs and practitioners having experiences related to the study.
3.7. Scope and Limitation of the Study
There are wide ranges of suppliers in tourism sectors. But due to the resource and time
constrains, this study was not attempt to cover all sectors. It focuses mainly on micro and
small food outlets in Siem Reap town, Siem Reap province. PPT is the main discussion
within this paper. However, researcher only focuses on the perceptions of the restaurants‘
20
owners on how they can diversity and offer more opportunities to those who they consider
poor. The challenges and opportunities are only analyzed on the basis of micro and small
food and beverage sectors with their employee‘s status.
3.8. Data Analysis Method
Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were utilized in this study. So two main
data analysis techniques were employed namely SPSS and Thematic Analysis. For
quantitative method, SPSS were used to analyze the data collected from questionnaire
through Descriptive Frequency, Cross-tabulation and Multiple responses. On the one side, for
qualitative analysis, Thematic Analysis were employed for analyzing the data obtained from
open question regarding the opinion from the restaurant owners/managers about the possible
interventions that enable the poor to get benefit from the development.
21
CHAPTER 4
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
4.1 Socio-Demographic of the Respondents
Socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents are illustrated in the table 1. The gender
distribution of respondents is dominated by male (60.3%), while female only accounted for
39.7%. The entrepreneurs who are below 25 year-old is accounted for 1.4%, followed by
47.9% between 25 and 40 and slightly above 50% for 41 years and above. From third age
groups, it is highly likely that business are more stable and self-sustained and the
entrepreneurs are expanding their business size, recruiting more employees and participate
actively in business operation. Furthermore, the youngest age group tends to be more
ambitious and enthusiastic and they are keen to put more efforts to thrive their businesses. In
the meantime, the oldest age group also has major advantages too. They are experienced in
their restaurants operation and are likely to run new establishment for their children in other
locations. Regarding education level, majority of respondents are high school graduates
(46.6%), followed by university degree holders and secondary school graduates at 28.8% and
13.7% respectively. From this prospect, restaurant entrepreneurs are likely to thrive, because
of their high education levels. They have considerable ability to manage day-to-day
operation, treat customers and employees with good care. There are noticeable differences of
those who are originally from SR and other provinces. Owners from other provinces, in this
study, are better educated compared to the local owners. Entrepreneurs from other
geographical locations finished university and high school at 15% and 19% compared to local
entrepreneurs whose level of university and high school completion was at 6% and 15%
respectively. In addition, local entrepreneurs (39.7%) are as almost half as entrepreneurs who
22
are originated from outside provinces (60.3%). In this regards, local entrepreneurs, to some
extent, are dominated and invaded by migrated business people. This is chiefly due to the
inequality in education levels.
Table1: Socio-demographic of the respondent
Variable Categories Percentages
Gender
Male 60.3
Female 39.7
Age 25 year-old 1.4
25 – 40 47.9
41 year-old 50
Origin of resident Siem Reap 39.7
Other provinces 60.3
Education level Primary School 9.6
Secondary School 13.7
High School 46.6
Colleg/Vocational
Training
1.4
University or Higher 28.8
Duration of business
operation
3 year-old 1.4
4 – 9 year-old 47.9
50.7
Number of employees
23
Micro enterprises 1 – 4 employees 37
Small enterprises 5 – 19 employees 63
Type of venture Profit-making 96
Social enterprises/business 2.7
Registration Yes 70
No 30
N=73
Among the total respondents, the proportion of ―owner‖ is by far the highest among other
category, especially compared to ―manager‖ at 68.5% and 30.1% respectively. Micro and
small tourism enterprises in food and beverage sector are overwhelmingly dominated by
profit-making venture (almost 96%), while other types of venture such as social
enterprise/business only represent modest percentage at 2.7%.
The ages of their MSTEs vary accordingly. However, a study revealed that newly established
ventures aged 3-year-old and below occupy significant share at 58.9%, follow by medium-
term venture (aged from 4-9 years) and early established ventures (aged from 10 years and
above) at 27.4% and 13.7% respectively. A noticeable aspect of the first category (newly
established venture) is a considerable difference of owners‘ origin, where almost 60% are
from other regions whereas some 40% are local people. Despite new establishes are likely to
challenge with heavy operational cost, many new business opportunities attract new comers.
This is primarily caused by conductive small-scale business environment, supportive
government policies and on-going surge of demand side.
Because of its nature, MSTE requires limited investment and knowledge to start up.
Therefore, it is conductive for entrepreneurs who have small capital. It is revealed that
24
entrepreneurs who used own capital as source of establishment represent 75.3%, followed by
16.4% of those who shared capital with friends and relatives (figure 3).
Figure 3: Sources of capital
Some 70% among micro and small scale restaurants interviewed registered with concerned
authorities (table1), where 60% of registered ventures licensed by Siem Reap provincial
department of commerce, while another 33.8% licensed by Siem Reap provincial department
of tourism. The average license cost is USD 153 per annum.
4.2 Willingness to Support the Poor
According to Streen (2008), MSTEs are classified as sole operation, micro enterprise and
small scale enterprise. Based on this classification, the study shows that micro enterprises
occupy 37% whereas small scale enterprises share another 63%. In small enterprises, number
of female employees in average is almost as twice as number of male employees (5:3). In this
regards, female staff pay active roles in small scale restaurant enterprises. Like other sectors
such as accommodation, leisure and recreation, women play lead roles in services providing
and always have high profile of employability.
25
Wage is major incentive for employment. The average salary for the employees in MSTEs is
USD 102 per month. This is the major direct benefit that the poor can get from this small
scale development. The study reveals that the average income for those who work in micro-
enterprises is USD80, whereas the average wage for those who work in small enterprises is
USD115.
Table 2: Employees’ average salary (Micro and Small restaurant enterprises)
Type of business N Minimum Maximum Mean SD
Micro-enterprise 26 50 120 80 22.64
Small enterprise 46 60 180 115 32.44
Total 73 50 180 102 33.90
N=73
Beside monetary benefit, employees in MSTE are entitled other in-kind incentives, but it is
highly flexible from cases to cases. Some owners are more sympathy and treat staff with
better care. Despite relatively low income, employees, to some extent, are offered free
accommodation and meals. There is usually no clear procedure about the incentive
entitlement. Even so, more than half of respondents (55.7%) provide free medication to their
employees. This means that basic micro health insurant is covered by the employers.
Furthermore, regarding leave, more than half of employers (57% and 55%) entitle annual
holiday and holiday leaves to their staff. However, these types of entitlements are highly
flexible and informal. In regard to annual bonus, employees in SMTEs are expected to offer
bonus ranging from USD 20-30 each special event such as Khmer new-year, Chinese new-
year and Phnum Beng festival. Additionally, employees are provided informal training and
capacity building. Approximately half of enterprises interviewed are willing to provide on the
job training to their staff in order to improve service quality in their restaurants as well as to
equip their employees to have better opportunities such as pay rise and better paid-job. 81.4%
26
of total respondents develop tip box for their employees. From this kind of incentive,
employees who work in MSTEs are likely to earn extra income.
Table 3: Other incentive for staff in Micro and Small restaurant enterprises
No Item Responses Percent of
Cases
N Percent
1 Health insurance2 39 13.0% 55.7%
2 Annual leave3 40 13.3% 57.1%
3 Annual bonus4 37 12.3% 52.9%
4 Training and capacity
building
37 12.3% 52.9%
5 Overtime paid 34 11.3% 48.6%
6 Tip 57 18.9% 81.4%
7 Maternity leave5 18 6.0% 25.7%
8 Holiday leave 39 13.0% 55.7%
Total 301 100.0% 430.0%
(N=73)
2 Health insurance is the study only refer to very basic medication cost which covered by restaurant owners for
their staff.
3 Annual leave does not refer to the formal entitlement that staff should deserve. In the context of micro and
small tourism enterprise this term means the short duration that staff usually gets paid while leaving from work
for health reason or home visit.
4 Annual bonus is commonly the sum of extra money what owners give their staff during major festivals such
as Khmer or Chinese New Year and Phnum Benh festival. The total sum is usually between USD20-30.
5 Maternity leave is almost non-existence in micro and small restaurant operation. This is due to high turn-over.
The employees usually give up their work after marriage.
27
The majority of respondents (58.9%) prefer to hire local people for their business operation.
This is mainly due to the affordable labor and availability of workers. Some of them even
claim that local residents take leave shorter than those from other province, so employing
local has more advantages. People from Siem Reap are likely to be aware of tourims sectors
and hospitality industry. Low cost labor is major incentive that encourages owners to employ
local people.
The second preference (23.3%) does not care where the employees come from. Restaurant
entrepreneurs open equal opportunities for anyone who can provide labor. They only
prioritize whoever capable to serve the services in the restaurants. However, a noticeable
percentage of third type is given to priority to the poor both from Siem Reap and other
provinces of Cambodia. Entrepreneurs pay more attention to support the poor through
encouraging employability. Standing at only 15.1% of this category should be encouraged
because it should be the heart of tourism development in highly development destination.
Local poor people should be given special attention and strategize the development practices
to support the poor and vulnerable people so that they can, to some extent, take more
advantages from such developmental activities.
28
Table 4: who do you prefer to employ?
No
Who do you prefer to employ?
Item Frequency Percent Valid
Percent
Cumulative
Percent
1 Local people 43 58.9 58.9 58.9
2 People from
nearby province
2 2.7 2.7 61.6
3 People from all
over Cambodia
17 23.3 23.3 84.9
4 Poor people, both
locals and
Cambodians from
other provinces
11 15.1 15.1 100.0
Total 73 100.0 100.0
N=73
29
Due to its nature, MSTE mainly channel job announcement informally. Asking friends and/or
relatives is the prime source of job information access within this sector. This significance
stands at 63%, while second major source (43.8%) of information access that the employees
basically the poor can access such information is the information board which is usually
installed in front of the restaurant.
Table 5: Means of announcement
Mean of announcement
Responses Percent of
Cases N Percent
Announce
men
t
Through friends/relatives 46 51.7% 63.0%
Social Media 3 3.4% 4.1%
Media (TV, radio, newspaper...) 2 2.2% 2.7%
Employment agency 6 6.7% 8.2%
Post job announcement in front of
restaurant
32 36.0% 43.8%
Total 89 100.0% 121.9%
To some extent, the term ―poor‖ is totally contested concept and it is still skeptical how it is
defined. Many indicators are used to judge the level of poor the household belong to. These
include possession of land, livestock, housing condition, number of dependents, economic
shock, income, information access and debt. The study aims to understand the perception of
owner on the poverty, especially focusing on the employees who are currently working in
30
their restaurants. Many respondents (55.6%) argue that poor people can be defined as those
who have no land or have very little land. Furthermore, more that 40% of respondents agree
that people who belong to poor category are those who have no livestock, have too many
mouths to feed, have poor housing condition and earn less than USD2. In addition,
approximately 30% of respondents reveal that poor people are those who are in debt, have no
access to any information and have no capacity to work.
Table 6: Owners’ perception on “poor”
Based on the table 7, local entrepreneurs are willing to support poor through providing jobs,
purchasing products which are locally grown, providing tree training to the poor staff and
No Description Responses Percent of
Cases N Percent
1
Little or no land 40 15.3% 55.6%
2 Little or no livestock 35 13.4% 48.6%
3 Too many mouth to feed the family 30 11.5% 41.7%
4 Very poor quality housing 31 11.8% 43.1%
5 In ability to recover from economic
shock-harvest losses and serious
health problem
18 6.9% 25.0%
6 Income below 2USD 32 12.2% 44.4%
7 No access to information 21 8.0% 29.2%
8 No capacity at all 27 10.3% 37.5%
9 Debt 23 8.8% 31.9%
10 No job 5 1.9% 6.9%
Total 262 100.0% 363.9%
31
also willing to provide technical or fun support to the poor in order that they could provide
better products and services in return. Throughout these commitments, poor people are likely
to have better chances to improve their economic status. In the meantime, respondents
hesitate to acknowledge that tax levy they pay may benefit the poor in any form.
Furthermore, they are neutral when asked of they are willing to joint venture with the poor or
poor communities. This is primarily due to the lack of trust and confident. Also, the poor
might not be a good business partners or even retrogress the business operation if they are
working together. Even though some of owners contribute to the infrastructure development
and support the orphanage centers, the willingness to these to help the poor is still skeptical
from their own view.
Table 7: Willingness to support the poor
Item Min Max Mean Std.
Deviation
1 Provide employment to local poor 1.00 5.00 3.9863 .96455
2 Provide free training to local poor 1.00 5.00 3.3151 1.24585
3 Pay tax to the government 1.00 5.00 3.0685 1.18238
4 Purchase local products 1.00 5.00 3.7808 1.09604
5 Support poor to produce qualified
services/products (technical/fund)
1.00 5.00 3.4384 1.07995
6 Joint venture with poor
(community/cooperative/associati
on) for new establishment
1.00 5.00 2.9726 1.09256
7 Contribute to infrastructure
improvement /development
1.00 5.00 3.0274 1.07977
32
8 Donate to orphanage centers 1.00 5.00 3.0685 1.21711
9 Donate to conservation activities 1.00 5.00 2.9863 1.06057
N=73
4.3 The Challenges of the Poor and Prospective Return on Pro-Poor Business Practice
There are many issues that may hinder the poor from making the best use from tourism
development in Siem Reap even though they live close to the developmental areas. These
might include – networking, access to the employment, human resources – skills, knowledge,
ability to access information, and financial resources. However, in case of micro and small
tourism in restaurant sectors, respondents show that employee‘s level of knowledge is
somehow fine. Despite some employers complained that their staff do not demonstrate
enough knowledge and capacity, others tend to agree that micro and small restaurants do not
need high qualified staff. Because most of them are profit-oriented enterprises, they try to
minimize operational cost by employing low paid workers who usually have limited
knowledge and capacity. Furthermore, owners seem not to care much about the skills and
work experience of employees they recruit. This is because of simplicity of the micro and
small scare restaurant operations. Low skills employees are expected to build more during the
job training. Some employers are enthusiastic to train their staff because they wish to
improve their service quality. The poor, to some extent, are challenging with very limited
professionalism. Attitude is view as key issue for poor employees to access job because trust
among employees and employers is somehow limited. Networking and accessing to the
information are also constrains that hinder the poor from taking advantages from tourism
development. Due to high majority of enterprises advertise jobs by either installing
information board in front of their restaurants or by close relatives or friends, networking and
accessing information are crucial for the poor in terms of increasing employability rates.
33
Table 8: The challenges of the poor
Item Min Max Mean Std.
Deviation
1 Level of knowledge 1.00 5.00 3.0411 1.07288
2 Level of skills 2.00 5.00 3.4521 1.00057
3 Attitude 1.00 5.00 3.3425 1.04375
4 Capacity 1.00 5.00 3.2877 1.08627
5 Work experiences 1.00 5.00 3.3836 .96652
6 Trust 1.00 5.00 3.3836 1.07536
7 No networks 1.00 5.00 3.4658 1.14361
8 No access to
information
1.00 5.00 3.2466 1.15206
9 Time consuming for the
training to fit the job
1.00 5.00 3.1233 1.06647
10 Inability to access to the
financial benefit
1.00 5.00 3.4521 1.21382
11 Limited language skill 1.00 5.00 3.4384 1.14244
N=73
In the meantime of supporting the poor through providing employment, the enterprises are
expecting from being socially responsible practitioners. By doing so, some respondents
reveal that will have opportunity to build up their reputation in the market. In addition, they
34
are expecting chances to maximize their profit due to the increase of sale. Pro-poor inclusion
in their business is also the mean to reach charming business. By doing so, however, they do
not expect neither tax exemption nor fund support form NGOs or donor. They are rare and
unexpected cases.
Table 9: Return from pro-poor practices for venture themselves
Item Min Max Mean Std. Deviation
1 Standardize the service
and products
1.00 5.00 3.4384 1.01361
2 Fair trade business
(label)
1.00 5.00 3.2329 .97924
3 Charming market 1.00 5.00 3.4247 .86471
4 Tax exemption 1.00 5.00 2.7397 .94321
5 Fund from
NGOs/Donors
1.00 5.00 2.6575 1.19279
6 Opportunities to
maximize the benefits
1.00 5.00 3.4795 1.05554
7 Promote socially
responsible venture
1.00 5.00 3.3562 .94824
8 Marketing networks 1.00 5.00 3.3288 .97261
9 Increase volume of sale 1.00 5.00 3.5342 .95862
10 Gain reputation 1.00 5.00 3.5068 .94462
N=73
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4.4 How Poor Can Access Better Output From the MSTE Development
Poor are disadvantageous group in gaining the benefit from the development projects. In
order to encourage the poor the get substantial benefit all key stakeholders should work
collaboratively together. In this regard, respondents contribute some so the kick-start solution
which keys actors should take into serious account for better pro-poor developmental scheme.
Mainstreaming pro-poor program for direct, indirect and induce impact to the poor household
is very challenging assignment. However, for the sake of poor who are expected to gain
benefits from the MSTE, entrepreneurs are willing to substantially support in terms of
employability. Not to mention about other prospective incentives, income from direct
employment is acknowledged as the immediate solution to mitigate the vulnerability of the
poor. In order to maximize the chances employees themselves should be more self-confident
and enthusiastic and work hard. Attitude is key factors that majority of entrepreneurs take
serious attention. From the perspective of the owners, poor‘s attitude is determinant factors
whether they are able to graduate from the poor status. Being patient and hardworking is very
essential for long-term employability. “If they strive for themselves, others are keen to help”
a 52 year-old woman who is the owner of restaurant near central market in Siem Reap town
said. Likewise, some owners more focus on the knowledge, skills and capacity of their
employees. Although micro and small restaurant enterprises are not picky in terms of
employees‘ qualification, some respondents demonstrate that having suitable capacity enable
them to improve faster and able to search for better opportunities. In the meantime, capacity
building is scored the more important from owners‘ perspective. Thus, NGOs and
government should make more training and other capacity building activities wisely
accessible, especially free or low-cost training should be prioritized to the poor group. By
doing so, poor are likely to have better opportunities to engage in micro and small tourism
enterprises development. The capacity building should focus on the service operation in
36
micro and small scale restaurants which also include basic language skills. In addition, heavy
reliance on tourism development alone can shrink opportunities to gain benefit for the poor.
Alternative livelihood option should be attempted include but not limited to agriculture
sector. In addition to that, private sectors, especially micro and small scale restaurant
operators should expand employment opportunities which comply with the modest status and
capacity of the poor.
CHAPTER 5
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
Initially, this study aims to discover the characteristic of the micro and small scale restaurants
that employ the poor, constrains that obstruct poor from gaining the benefits from these small
scale businesses and the opportunities they can make to intensify the benefits. The result
consults the view on perception of the owners on how they take part in pro-poor practices and
also the involvement of other key stakeholders in mitigating the obstacles, especially the poor
themselves.
As indicated by Tourism and Leisure (2009), poor have limited opportunity to exercise their
potential in gaining benefit from tourism development. These constrains include but not
limited to poor networking, access to the information (employment information), skills,
knowledge, financial capital. It may be true to some extent. However, within micro and small
scales tourism enterprises, these constrains seem superficial. This may be due to the nature of
micro and small firms that are not usually picky in terms of employment qualification. Low-
profile and limited qualification are viewed as problem-free by the owners. In addition, the
study reveals that entrepreneurs are willing to support the poor through providing
employment, purchasing local products and even provide on the job training. In this regards,
they are expected to gain some potential returns such as improving reputation of business as
socially responsible practitioners.
37
CHAPTER 6
RECOMMENDATION
The pro-poor tourism MSE mechanism is implemented by certain tourism players and some
portion of the poor get benefit from such development; however, poor people are facing some
challenges that need to be addressed. To help make the tourism industry, especially the poor
who are employed within micro and small size restaurant enterprises, become more
economically beneficial, number of effective mechanisms and interventions should be taken
into serious account.
First of all, key stakeholders, especially MOLVT should work collaboratively with NGOs
and training centers to offer low-cost tourism related training to the poor. By doing so, they
are able to access better paid jobs and likely to entitle pay rise from the micro and small
restaurant they work for. Second, the RGC and the MoT and its line departments should
create and maintain tourism business enabling environment for micro and small scale tourism
enterprises which should focus more on career opportunities for the locals, as well as other
poor and vulnerable Cambodians. Third, the state and local governments, in close
collaboration with all concerned stakeholders, should provide more training and educational
opportunities for SR poor locals to enhance their skills, knowledge and experience. By doing
so, they are able to get better employment opportunity and likely to get pay rise. Fourthly, the
38
RGC and other related state actors should create more alternative opportunities for local
investment in order to reduce the expand opportunity for the poor to access either
employment and supply local products, while at the same time diversifying local economies
in the area. Next, the government and the MoT should invest more in the improvement of
infrastructural and superstructural services and facilities to support and promote tourism
development in SR.
39
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