Tour Operator and Pro-Poor Sustainable Tourism

Tour Operator and Pro-Poor Sustainable Tourism Screening of Sustainable Tour Operation by Netherlands Development Organisation June 2008

Table of Content Acknowledgement Abbreviation Executive Summary 1. Introduction... 5 1.1 background... 5 1.2 Rationale and Objectives of the survey... 5 1.3 Methods and Methodologies... 6 2. Tour Operators roles in sustainable tourism development and tourism value chain... 7 3. Key Findings... 9 3.1 Tour Operators and Sustainable Tourism Principles... 9 3.1.1 Economic Principles... 9 3.1.2 Socio-Cultural Principles... 10 3.1.3 Environmental Principles... 11 3.2 Implementation of Sustainable Tourism Principles... 13 3.3 Tour Operator s Perception on Community Based Tourism (CBT)... 13 3.3.1 Awareness about CBT... 13 3.3.2 Understanding CBT... 14 3.3.3 Tour Operator s Perception on CBT... 15 3.3.4 Tour Operator s Expectation from CBT... 17 4. Conclusion... 18 Appendices: Appendix 1: Table Summary of Results... 20 Appendix 2: Tour Companies follow Sustainable Tourism Principles... 23 Appendix 3: Tour Companies currently working with and promoting CBT site... 25 Appendix 4: Sustainable Tour Operation Checklist... 26 Appendix 5: List of Tour Companies Screened... 29 1

Acknowledgement The report was compiled by Saing Sodany, Tourism Advisor, SNV Netherlands Development Organisation. The screening of sustainable tour operation was completed successfully with the support and collaboration from CATA (Cambodia Association of Travel Agents) and their members. First of all, special thanks should be given to Ms. Chhorn Sovanna and Ms. Pen Sakhena, third tourism students at the Royal University of Phnom Penh, who were contracted by SNV to undertake the telephone interview for the survey. Next, great thank should be expressed to CATA for their collaboration and helpfulness to facilitate in the process of screening and thank to tour operators and tour companies (CATA s members) in Cambodia who had responded to the checklist and those who made their time available for the telephone interview. With this support and assistance from all relevant stakeholders and SNV advisors, the report of the screening of sustainable tour operation was completed successfully. 2

Abbreviation CATA: CBT: CCBEN: FIT: GIT: MOT: NGO: ODI: PPT: RUPP: SNV: UK: USA: Cambodia Association of Travel Agents Community-Based Tourism Cambodian Community-Based Ecotourism Network Free Independent Traveler Group Inclusive Travel Ministry of Tourism Non-Government Organization Oversea Development Institute Pro-Poor Tourism Royal University of Phnom Penh Netherlands Development Organisation United Kingdom United State of America 3

Executive Summary The responsible tour operator screening was conducted among CATA members (147 tour companies) to identify how tour companies consider or follow the principles of sustainable tourism principles and their perception on CBT. Tour operator involving in sustainable tourism There are 3 principles of sustainable tourism economic, socio-cultural and environmental principles. To be more sustainable, tour companies should follow every aspect of the principles. It was found that among the 3 principles of sustainable tourism, most tour operators claimed to involve in economic principle and followed by socio-economic principle. Environmental aspect is the less concerning issue. Although more tour operators claimed to implement economic and socio-cultural principles than environmental principle, the results still showed that only 44% of respondents have claimed to apply at least 75% of sustainable tourism principles in their daily operation. Tour Operator and CBT Among tour operators screened, more tour operators (54%) aware of CBT while some of them do not know and have never heard about CBT at all. Although some of them do not know clearly about CBT, they (93%) really showed their interests in involving and participating since it is believed that CBT can bring more benefits to local people through local employment, contributes to local development and well-being while conserving local cultural and natural resources, provides real local experiences and crosscultural understanding, and provide alternative option to other types of tourism. However, only few tour operators were not interest in CBT. The reasons can be due to the unawareness of advantages of CBT and responsible tourism on their business operation and it can be due to the reason that they are not specialized in this kind of tourism. Based on the recognition of the importance and advantages of CBT on their operation as well as poverty alleviation, some tour operators have included CBT as one of their products. Those CBT sites are: Kampong Pluk, Prek Toal, Banteay Chhmar in Tonle Sap region; Putaing Village, Norng Lek village, Yeak Loam community in the Northeast region; Chambok community in the Cardamom region; and Kampong Sala, Koh Kong, and Ka Dong in the Coastal region. More of the tour operators (64.4%) do not focus on CBT yet. The reasons behind this were that there is no demand for such a kind of product since their companies were specialized in cultural tourism rather than nature based tourism or CBT. One more thing, the information about CBT was not able to reach the target market as well as tour operators. Based on the observation in reality, there are not many specialist tour operators who are really committed to CBT and sustainable tourism development in Cambodia. The main focus of most tour companies is temple and cultural tourism rather than nature-based tourism. Moreover, they mainly focus on economic benefit and leave other social concerned factor such as culture and environment. One of the constraints regarding to the development of Community-Based Tourism is the lack of information sharing and involvement from relevant stakeholders particularly private sector. Therefore, more awareness raising should be provided among all important stakeholders to encourage stakeholder involvement and participation, and at the same time more effort should be focused on CBT marketing and promotion in the early stage. Thus, CBT and sustainable tourism would be promoted by multi-stakeholders through the tourism channels and network. 4

1. Introduction 1.1 Background Demand for pro-poor tourism products (products offered by local community such as homestay, ecolodge, boat trip, hiking, mountain biking, bird watching, cycling and interacting with local communities) is becoming particularly popular among UK, US and German visitors. However, suppliers of tourism services have been slow to diversify into this area. For instance, among 451 tour companies (2007) 1, there are only about 10 tour operators have involved with pro-poor activities through their operation in Northeast Cambodia. There are two main reasons why private sector has not yet increased their capacity to provide pro-poor tourism products. Most have limited understanding of pro-poor concepts and its potential. As a result, they have little interest in looking for new opportunities in rural area away from mass tourism. Private sector tends to focus only on short term profits. Due to the nature of profit oriented, most of them focus mainly on economic factor and leave over other social concerned factors such as cultural and environmental factors. Since private sector particularly tour operators play very important role in sustainable tourism development, they should be involved in pro-poor tourism practice in order to improve their operation to get long term benefit as well as to improve local community s condition and living standard. 1.2 Rationale and Objectives of the survey In Cambodia, SNV signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Ministry of Tourism (2006-2008) to promote pro-poor sustainable tourism development and practices in Cambodia. In this effort, SNV and MOT work hand in hand to engage private sector in sustainable tourism development since private sector plays very important role as a middle man to bring tourists to tourism destinations and to bring more benefit and impacts to communities. Moreover, in order to match the increasing demand for sustainable tourism, tour operators and private sector should be involved. Awareness raising about sustainable tourism practices should be provided. Private sector attitude and characteristics to sustainable tourism practice should be studied to understand how much they involve and how much they understand about their roles in sustainable tourism development. Therefore, the overall objective of the screening of sustainable tour operation is to screen through tour operators/tour companies to identify how much they have followed sustainable tourism principles and guidelines in their daily operation. The specific objectives are: - To understand how many tour operators/tour companies are following sustainable tourism principles and to what extent, - To screen the knowledge of Community Based Tourism among tour companies, - To identify how many tour companies already feature and work with community-based ecotourism. 1 Ministry of Tourism: Tourism Statistic 2007 5

1.3 Methods and Methodologies Scope of the study The screening of Sustainable Tour Operation was conducted among CATA members of the Cambodia Association of Travel Agents (CATA) by e-mail and interview. In 2008, the association has 157 members which represent about 50% of total number of tour operators and travel agencies in Cambodia in 2007 (333 travel agencies main offices). The target sample is inbound tour operators/tour companies. Data collection: Methodology is a significantly systematic framework that can lead and guide to reach the set objectives of the screening of sustainable tour operation. There are many types of methods used for data collection in research papers; however, selecting an appropriate method depends up on context and objective of the study. To screen the sustainable tour operation, tour operation checklist was used with the complement of interview using the checklist developed. Questionnaire checklist was employed to gather information from key tour companies particularly inbound tour operators. A structure questionnaire of 28 close and open-ended questions was developed based on the responsible tour operator checklist developed by Wild Asia 2 with some adjustments to make it suitable in Cambodian context. The checklist was divided into two main parts to understand (1) the tour operator s perception of Community-based Tourism (CBT) and their involvement; (2) the adoption of sustainable tourism principles (economic, socio-cultural, and environmental principles) for day-to-day tour operation. After the questionnaire checklist was developed, it was sent to all CATA members (157 tour companies at the time of the survey) by electronic mail. However, it was observed that only 25 tour companies responded and completed the sustainable tour operator checklist. This was due to the reason that the questionnaires were sent to tour operators during the high season, so that most of the tour operators were very busy and had not enough time to complete the checklist, and some of the questionnaires did not reach the target persons due to some technical problems in the e-mail. Therefore, to achieve the set objective and to be effective, the screening of sustainable tour operation was done and complemented by telephone interview. The telephone interviews were conducted by two 3 rd year university students in tourism who were trained to undertake the task. A telephone interview was conducted among all CATA members. However, only 37 tour companies were available for interview while the other were busy with their business and were not available for interview and some of them were not accessible due to the wrong telephone number and some companies were closed and changed their addresses. Limitation of the study: Though the results seem to be positive, there are some limitations to the data that must be acknowledged. The most important thing is the low response rate. Only 62 tour companies of CATA members responded to the sustainable tour operation checklist, which makes it difficult to draw too strong statistical inference from any of the results. With limited number of respondents, the percentages are strongly swayed by only few answers in many cases. Therefore, the result is probably a little bit bias in favor of sustainable and responsible tourism practices due to some reasons and limitations such as: - there is lack of collaboration from tour operators. So only those who are already interested in CBT and responsible tourism responded to the checklist. 2 www.wildasia.net 6

- due to time constraint and limitation, the checklist was developed and sent out in a short time. - some of the tour companies focus on outbound tours only, so they have no idea at all about CBT. - some of the agencies mainly focus on culture and temple tourism and they are not aware of CBT. - Some of target respondents were not reached due to unavailable of their time and wrong contact numbers. Thus, the result is not representative of all CATA members. The companies who responded to the survey may be those who are already strongly committed to these issues and want to express what they are doing to response to the sustainable and responsible tourism issues. Therefore, doing the distance survey based on electronic mail and telephone interview has some limitations and weaknesses. However, although there are some limitations and weaknesses of using this method for data collection, more effort was used to collect reliable and accurate data such as follow up call to explain the content of the questionnaire in order to get respondents understand the concept. As a result, 62 tour companies were contacted for interview as well as responded to our survey with good collaboration. Within the above limitations, the value of the survey is about what was stated by respondents. Furthermore, it can be expected that the result provide a valuable insight into the views of tour companies on sustainable tourism and community based tourism. 2. Tour Operators roles in Sustainable Tourism Development and Tourism Value Chain Tour operators are businesses that combine two or more travel services (e.g. transport, accommodation, catering, entertainment, sightseeing, community based ecotourism products) and sell them through travel agencies or directly to final consumers/tourists as a single product (called a package tour) 3. Tour operator is considered as an intermediary 4 with the role to bring buyers and sellers together. They offer inclusive tour of tourism products and services both directly to consumers and indirectly to consumers via travel agents. Travel agent acts as a middleman 5 or retailer who arranges the sale of the inclusive or package tour of the tour operator for commission. Travel agent also sells individual component of a trip such as transport ticket, accommodation, catering services or excursion. Thus, tour operator and travel agent have different roles 6. Tour operator has closer relationship with the communities, tourism attractions and services while tour agent is closer to tourists or customers. Figure 1 shows the different role of tour operator and travel agent in tourism system. 3 Dorothea Meyer (2003), The UK Outbound Tour Operating Industry and Implications for Pro-Poor Tourism PPT Working Paper No. 17 by ODI. 4 a person or agent who tries to help two other people or group to agree with each other. 5 a person or agent who buys things in order to sell to someone else for commission. 6 Dorothea Meyer (2003), The UK Outbound Tour Operating Industry and Implications for Pro-Poor Tourism PPT Working Paper No. 17 by ODI. 7

Figure 1: Tour operator in tourism system 7 : Transportation, Accommodation, Food and Beverage Services, Attractions ecotourism sites, community based tourism sites Travel to destinations Prepare package tour Travel to tourism destinations Tour Operator Purchase trip Promote to Sell to Customers/ Tourists Travel Agent Due to the vital role of tour operators and travel agents in bringing tourists to sustainable tourism destinations, tour operators and travel agents are considered as an important player in promoting sustainable and responsible tourism as well as contributing to poverty alleviation through their operation at the destinations. Although tour operating companies employ relatively few people, their operation activities can stimulate hotels, infrastructure development, transport services, catering services, agriculture, information technology, entertainment, media, education and training, medical services etc. Within their limited number of staff in this sub sector, they rely mainly on networking of activities across the countries to make the demand and supply of tourism work properly. They act as a bridge between suppliers and consumers 8. Therefore, they have significant role in responsible and sustainable tourism development which is considered as a tool for poverty alleviation in the country. Responsible Tour Operator To contribute to poverty alleviation and make tourism industry more sustainable, private sector particularly tour operators/tour companies is an essential players to take some actions. Tourism companies can involve in sustainable tourism in many aspects. In tourism supply chain, pro-poor tourism and responsible tourism concept, tourism companies can take some actions of the following points 9 : In the tourist generating region, tour companies can: - provide tourists with information on the importance of pro-poor tourism and highlight local enterprises and attractions that they can support - provide tourists with information on the local culture and traditions, appropriate forms of dress and behavior - request local representatives to keep up to date with, and support, local initiatives, including pro-poor issues in staff training, particularly for overseas representatives - provide a facilities for tourists to donate to community projects 7 Ibid 8 Industry as a Partner for Sustainable Development: Tourism, by WTTC, IFTO, IH&RA, ICCL 2002. 9 Dilys Roe, Harold Goodwin, and Caroline Ashley (2002), Pro-Poor Tourism Briefing: The Tourism Industry and Poverty Reduction: A Business Primer. by Responsible Tourism, International Institute for Environment and Development, and Oversea Development Institute. 8

- market those packages that do exist with a strong community/pro-poor element - provide commercial advice to NGO/government sustainable tourism initiatives - encourage supply chain partners to recruit and train local employees - encourage supply chain partners to source goods and services locally wherever possible - build socio-economic considerations into existing checks and balances e.g. health and safety procedures - negotiate fair contracts with local suppliers including risk sharing. In the destination region, tour companies can: - actively pursue a local employee policy - provide a training program to enable local people to take up management positions - source goods and services locally wherever possible. Explain what is needed to potential suppliers - help local people to market small tourism enterprises by directing tourists to local attractions or including visits in the tour itinerary - provide business advice to local people wishing to complementary enterprises - development joint ventures and other types of partnerships with local people - engage in dialogue with local stakeholders to develop a shared vision of tourism in the local area - ensure local people still have access to valuable resources such as inshore fisheries, firewood and water, and are not harmed by sewage and waste disposal - provide advice to tourists on local cultures and traditions encouraging them to dress and behave appropriately and to support traditional crafts and culture - when developing lodges and so on, allow people to share infrastructure (access roads, piped water, electricity) developed for tourists - allow local people to access healthcare, communications and other services that are provided for tourists - encourage tourists to donate to community projects school and so on. 3. Key Findings 3.1 Tour Operator and Sustainable Tourism Principles: There are 3 principles of sustainable tourism such as economic, socio-cultural and environmental aspects.. In term of tour operation, economic principle is about tour operator/tour company s commitment to local employment and sourcing, meaning supporting to local employment and benefiting local communities in a variety of ways. Socio-cultural principle is about respecting local cultures and supporting local development and community well-being. Environmental aspect refers to the commitment to the protection of natural areas, efficient use of resources and responsible waste management. Therefore, to be responsible tour operator, all aspects of the 3 basic principles of sustainable tourism need to be implemented and practiced during day-to-day tour operation. 3.1.1 Economic principles: commitment to local employment and sourcing It is noticed that more tour operators screened have followed the economic principles of the sustainable tour operation (see graph 1). 80.6% of respondents agree that more than 70% of the staff and tour providers comprise of local personnel. This shows that local employment has been taken into account and more job opportunities have been offered to local people. 74.2% of respondents also state that more than 50% of products (such as guides, food supplies, transportation or accommodation) are locally produced and sourced. There are more impacts of tourism on local economy in term of local employment and the use of local products. So that local people running small and medium enterprises can get more benefits from tourism. 9

Remarkably, 77.4% of respondents said that their companies have a policy to encourage the use of locally produced products which are available at the destination such as guides, accommodation, transportation, and food supplies. 74.2% respond that their companies have good partnership with local suppliers (such as guides, local restaurants, local guesthouses, homestay provided by communities, etc.). Therefore, around 75% of the respondents follow the overall economic principles of responsible tourism. Economic Principle 100% 8.1 8.1 9.7 8.1 80% 11.3 17.7 12.9 17.7 60% N/A No 40% 80.6 74.2 77.4 74.2 Yes 20% 0% More than 70% More than 50% of staff are local of products are people locally produced Company s policy to encourage guests to use local products Company has partnership with local suppliers Graph 1: Tour Operator and Economic Principle of Sustainable Tourism 3.1.2 Socio-cultural principles: respecting local cultures and supporting local development In term of socio-cultural aspect of responsible or sustainable tourism, it was found that over half of the respondents (56.5%) have informed their guests about the locally acceptable behavior and appropriate dress before visiting the communities. The visitors were informed about their code of conducts such as what they can do and what they cannot do, the appropriate dresses and actions that are suitable in the context of community. 62.9% of them have also educated their guests about local cultures and respect. Visitors were informed about the local cultures and traditions in order to make them understand the local cultures and to avoid culture shock in some cases. This is also a good chance to inform them to follow and respect the local culture and tradition since this is the important value of the local. It is also noticed that nearly 70% of tour operators allow their guests to involve or participate with the local ceremony or communities to exchange experiences and create satisfied experiences for their guests. Most of them (about 70%) also have good relationship with the communities they currently work with. 10

Rules and regulations of the communities were also followed by most of the tour companies (about 70%) surveyed. This was implied that communities were empowered, involved and taken into account by the tour companies for long term partnership and sustainable tourism development. (See graph 2) Remarkably, half of the respondents offer support to an NGO or local communities for the betterment of the community which 35% was reported to support financially and 65% support in term of active participation. Socio-Economic Socio-Cultural Principle 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 9.7 11.3 33.9 56.4 Inform guests about the locally acceptable behavior and dress 25.8 11.3 8.1 4.8 62.9 Educate guests about local culture and respect 19.3 22.5 25.8 25.8 69.4 69.4 69.4 Allow guests to involve with local daily activities Follow rules/regulations of the communities Company has good relationship with communities 21 53.2 Company's supports to local communities N/A No Yes Graph 2: Tour Operator and Socio-Cultural Principle 3.1.3 Environmental principles: protection of natural resources, efficient use of resources and responsible waste management Based on the responses from the interview, only 30.6% currently support local conservation projects where they operate. Among this, only 30% of responses support financially and 70% participate actively in conservation project. Moreover, half of the respondents have a policy to minimize impacts of their trip activities such as trekking, camping, vehicle on trails, boats, fishing etc. on local community as well as local environment. But only 38.7% conduct a post trip evaluation with their guests to confirm that the tour arranged was environmentally friendly tour. More tour operators also educate their guests about local environmental issues (69.4%). And they also have a tendency and attempt to use renewable energy (57.4%) such as solar panels, micro hydro electricity or wind power. But there are fewer attempts to inform guests about how to minimize energy use such as water and electricity. There is also less attention to encourage guests to reuse drinking water bottles by providing drinking water refilling stations (16.4%). However, there is growing attention to encourage staff and guests to minimize waste (72.1%). It is also considerably as good that 41% of tour operators interviewed have a system in place to check their tour impacts on the destinations. Among this, 41% of them conduct independent 11

assessment, 30.8% send the company s representatives to check for their impacts on the destination while 25.6% request for solicit feedback from local NGO, communities and visitors at the destinations. Nearly half of them also train their staff about environmental conservation, responsible and sustainable tourism as well as providing information to guests on approach to community based tourism or responsible tourism. Therefore, only 45.6% of respondents have followed the over all environmental principle of sustainable tourism regarding to the protection of natural resources. (see table 1) Environmental principles Number of Percentage Respondents Support local conservation Yes 19 30.6 project No 28 45.2 N/A 15 24.2 62 respondents 100 Means of supporting local Support financially 5 29.4 conservation projects Support by active participation 12 70.6 17 responses 100 Policy to minimize impacts Yes 33 53.2 on local environment and No 18 29 community N/A 11 17.7 62 respondents 100 Conduct post trip Yes 24 38.7 evaluation No 24 38.7 N/A 14 22.6 62 respondents 100 Educate guests about local Yes 43 69.4 environmental issues No 11 17.7 N/A 8 12.9 62 respondents 100 Attempt to use renewable Yes 35 57.4 energy No 14 23 N/A 12 19.7 61 respondents 100 Inform guests to minimize Yes 18 29.5 energy use No 34 55.7 N/A 9 14.8 61 respondents 100 Encourage guests to reuse Yes 10 16.4 drinking water bottles No 42 68.9 N/A 9 14.8 61 respondents 100 Encourage staff and guests Yes 44 72.1 to minimize waste No 7 11.5 N/A 10 16.4 61 respondents 100 System to check impacts of Yes 25 41 the tours on the No 23 37.7 destinations N/A 13 21.3 61 respondents 100 Kinds of checking system Independent assessment 16 41 of the tours impacts on the Visit by company s 12 30.8 destinations representative Solicit feedback from local NGO, 10 25.6 communities and visitors Other 1 2.6 39 responses 100 Train staff about Yes 27 44.3 12

conservation and sustainable tourism Inform guests about approach to CBT and responsible tourism No 26 42.6 N/A 8 13.1 61 respondents 100 Yes 30 49.2 No 20 32.8 N/A 11 18 61 respondents 100 Table 1: Tour Operator and Environmental Principle 3.2 Implementation of Sustainable Tourism Principles To be responsible tour companies, maximum aspects of the sustainable and responsible tourism should be adopted and followed. To understand the percentage of tour companies implementing sustainable/responsible tourism principles, the formula 10 was used. Responsible Tour Operation Score : [ of Yes/(21-N/A)]x100 (The total number of respondents was 50 and the number of Yes was 21) It was found that 22 tour companies out of 50 (44%) have adopted more than 75% of sustainable tourism principles for their day-to-day operation. Therefore, 39 tour companies out of 50 (78%) have implemented more than 50% of the three principles of sustainable tourism economic, socio-cultural and environmental principles. (see graph 3) For information about tour operators who claimed to have followed sustainable tourism principles, see table in Appendix 2. Implementation of Sustainable Tourism Principles No. of respondents 25 20 15 10 5 0 22 17 10 44% 34% 1 20% 2% 0% - 25% 26% - 50% 51% - 75% 76% - 100% Graph 3: Implementation of Sustainable Tourism Principles 3.3 Tour Operator s perception on Community-Based Tourism (CBT) 3.3.1 Awareness about CBT In principle, there is growing interest of tourists looking for small scale sustainable tourism products away from mass tourism, while tour operators are very slow and are not putting much effort to seek for new destinations and new types of sustainable tourism to offer to the increasing demand for those products such as ecotourism, adventure tourism, community based tourism and responsible tourism. Therefore, going to the concept of responsible and 10 The formula was adopted from Wild Asia: Tour Operator Checklist 2007. www.wildasia.net 13

sustainable tourism, all respondents were asked about the concept of community-based tourism (CBT). The result shows that 34 out of 62 tour operators/tour companies surveyed have known or heard about CBT. However, the level of understanding the CBT concept among private sector was not known. It is concerned that just knowing the surface of responsible tourism or community based tourism is not enough, deeper understanding and involvement from various stakeholders particularly private sector is needed. 3.3.2 Understanding CBT To understand tour operators knowledge of CBT, tour operators were requested to give definition of CBT. As a result, only 23 of 62 tour operators interviewed would be able to give their thought about CBT. Other respondents seemed to have no idea and no clear picture of CBT. Thus, still 63% of tour operators have limited knowledge of CBT. Defining CBT definition, different tour operator comes up with different definition and understanding. Based on the responses from the tour operators, more attention has been paid to cultural (22.8%) and socio-economic sectors (22.8%) rather than environment (15.8%), host guest experience (15.8%), management (5.3%) and other factors. See table 2 In cultural aspect, CBT is defined as a kind of tourism which can help to promote local cultures at the same time conserve cultures and create cross cultural understanding among local communities and visitors. In term of socio-economic, CBT is considered as a type of small scale tourism which supports local employment, brings benefits to communities by using local products, and improves living standards of local people. The next important factor is environment. It is believed that CBT can contribute to the conservation and protection of the environment. Moreover, CBT is also considered as a product that can provide local experience to visitors and opportunities for interaction between community and visitors. Less attention has been paid to community management including local ownership, local management and control, and support local development. More respondents also refer CBT as tourism activities with local communities in the rural areas which are called rural tourism. CBT Definition Responses N Percent Culture 13 22.8% Socio-Economic 13 22.8% Environment 9 15.8% Management 3 5.3% Guest Host Experiences 9 15.8% Other 10 17.5% 57 100.0% Table 2: CBT Definition In theory, based on the CBT definition and principle, the main focus of CBT is a kind of tourism which is managed and initiated by community. For example, a tour company defined CBT as Tourism that benefits the communities and is developed in conjunction with or by communities. 14

However, from the point of view of the tour operators, less attention was paid to community management and control. The following is a perception of APSARA Tours on CBT: CBT is about experiencing a community in real life, and at the same time providing the community with action of good will. Community-based tourism is a type of tourism that contributes and benefits directly to local community of the visiting site. It is a win-win type of tourism whereby benefits can be achieved for both travelers and community through activities such as: volunteer tourism, special responsible tourism program that focuses on conservation and preservation of the community s unique identity. Therefore, based on various understandings of the tour operators towards CBT, CBT should be a form of small scale tourism which helps to promote local culture and contributes to community pride while conserving the local culture and environment, supports local employment, brings benefits to communities, improves community well being, provides real local experiences, and should be managed by community. 3.3.3 Tour Operator s Perception on CBT Over 90% (54 out of 58 respondents) of the tour operators interviewed are interested in CBT. It is believed that CBT can bring benefit to local people through providing local employment opportunities (35.4%), contributes to local development and improves living standard of local people (25%) and as well as provides good local experience to visitors (14.6%). Moreover, some of the tour operators are interested in CBT due to the reasons that CBT can also contribute to local environment conservation and protection. Tourism products can be diversified and developed through the establishment of CBT in Cambodia. It is also noticed that some of the tour companies have also adopted sustainable and responsible tourism policies and guidelines for their companies (such as Intrepid Indochina). Only few of the tour operators interviewed are not interested in CBT. See table 3 Reasons of Interest in CBT Responses Number Percent Local employment and bring benefit to local people 17 35.4% Product diversification and development 3 6.3% Local development and improve local living standard 12 25.0% Host guest experiences 7 14.6% CBT is in the line with company policy and guideline 2 4.2% Conservation and Protection 3 6.3% Other 4 8.3% 48 100.0% Table 3: Reasons of Interest in CBT Hang Tip Travel and Tours expressed their interest in CBT since it was found that CBT enables visitors to discovery local habitats and wildlife, respect local tradition and cultures, and involve in cultural ceremonies. CBT brings direct benefit to rural people who are the land owners, services and product providers. 15

Moreover, there is also a tour operator in Phnom Penh who understands the concept and recognizes the importance of CBT and sustainable tourism as a win-win type of tourism for both travelers and communities and their role in this kind of tourism. The following is the quote of expression and interest of APSARA Tours. I would like both the travelers and associated communities to realize that CBT is a win-win type of tourism activity for both travelers and communities. As a tour operator, it is important that we promote this type of tourism to the travelers to increase level of visitor satisfaction visiting the site and seeing genuine smile of the community rather than bringing visitors to the site and being seen as a nuisance in the community s eyes. Being interested in CBT and sustainable tourism, nearly half of tour operators interviewed (21 out of 59 respondents) currently include CBT as one of the products. CBT sites which are chosen by the tour operators are in the Tonle Sap region (30%) Kampong Pluk, Prek Toal, Banteay Chhmar; Northeast regions (26.7%) Putaing village, Norng Lek village, Yeak Loam community; Cardamom region (20%) Chambok; Coastal area (10%) Kampong Sala, Koh Kong, Ka Dong; and other regions. See graph 4 For more information about tour companies currently working with CBT communities, see Appendix 1. Communities where tour companies work with 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 6 Cardamom region 9 3 Tonle Sap Coastal Region Northeast region 8 4 Other Graph 4: Communities where Tour Operators work with Currently, more CBT sites are developed in Cambodia. However, those new developed CBT sites were not well known to visitors and private sector particularly tour operators who are the one who bring the tourists to the communities. Therefore, more effort should be put for CBT marketing and promotion. Based on the lack of interest and unawareness of CBT available in Cambodia, 64.4% of the tour operators (38 out of 59 respondents) do not include CBT as one of the products due to some reasons (see table 4). First, there is no demand for CBT (51.9%). For instance, it was mentioned by one tour company that they do not know about CBT at all and also are not interested in CBT. There is no demand from the market for such product since their main market is Korea who is not interested in nature-based tour. Another company also stated that because there is no request and demand from their market, they do not want to spend time searching or focusing on new product. Some tour companies focus only in cultural and temple tourism with their specific market niche such as Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Thai visitors who traveling as a group tour looking for only temples and sightseeing. Second, some tour operators did not know the existence and availability of CBT sites due to the lack of information and lack of confidence to include CBT as one of the products (37%). A 16

concerning factor is about the low quality services and products of CBT that cannot meet the demand for high quality services standard. Moreover, it is also stated that there are no CBT sites available in their operating regions. Most of the tours are operated in cultural and accessible regions which are not closed to natural and CBT areas. Therefore, CBT awareness raising should be provided among private sector. Number of Reasons for excluding CBT Responses Percent No demand 14 51.9 Lack of information about CBT sites 10 37.0 No CBT sites in the operating regions 2 7.4 Other 1 3.7 27 100.0 Table 4: The reasons for not including CBT as the product 3.3.4 Tour Operator s Expectation from CBT To understand the expectation of private sector on CBT, tour operators were asked about their expectations of including CBT in the product lists (see table 5). Based on the responses of those tour operators and tour companies who have included CBT in their product itinerary, the result shows that 23.9% of responses expect to bring more benefit to communities through the using of local products and supplies. 20.5% of responses focus on the product variety. It is thought that developing CBT is developing a new tourism product as this can be an alternative to other forms of tourism away from mass tourism. More people also consider CBT can contribute to increase the level of customer satisfaction (17.9%) in response to the demand for sustainable and responsible tourism products which are environmentally and culturally friendly tours. Only 17.1% expect CBT to bring more profit to company through developing CBT package tours. Therefore this can reflect the fact that, among responsible tour operators, more attention is paid to poverty alleviation and improving the community living condition. Developing CBT is also considered as developing new product and service in tourism that bring more product variety to tourism industry. Expectation of including CBT Responses N Percent Increase level of customer satisfaction 21 17.9% More profit to company 20 17.1% More customers 15 12.8% More profit to communities 28 23.9% More product variety 24 20.5% Other 9 7.7% 117 100.0% Table 5: Tour Operator s Expectation of including CBT as one of the products 17

4. Conclusion The responsible tour operator screening was conducted among CATA members (147 tour companies) to identify how tour companies consider or follow the principles of sustainable tourism principles and their perception on CBT. Tour operator involving in sustainable tourism Based on the results of the tour operator screening, it is noticed that 75% of travel companies have claimed to adopt and implement the economic principles of sustainable tourism. They started to support local employment and use of local products produced by local people in communities. 63.5% of respondents also stated to take socio-cultural dimension of sustainable tourism into account during a day-to-day operation. Thus, more attention from private sector was also paid to the support to local development and well-being of the communities, respect local cultures and traditional values while conserving cultural resources of the communities and providing cross cultural understanding as well as good host and guest experiences. Since the two aspects were concerned, environmental aspect was also put into practice for their daily operation. Only 45.6% of the respondents has been in the line with environmental aspect of sustainable tourism. They have involved in the protection of both natural and built environment, efficient use of the natural resources and good waste management. Therefore, among the 3 aspects of sustainable tourism, most tour operators claimed to involve more in economic aspect and followed by socio-economic aspect. Environmental aspect is the less concerning issue. Tour Operator and CBT Different tour operator has different understanding of CBT. Some focus on environmental aspect; some refer to economic while other consider of socio-cultural aspect of CBT. In short, among tour operators screened, more tour operators (54%) aware of CBT while some of them do not know and have never heard about CBT at all. However, knowing just the surface of CBT or responsible tourism is not enough; deeper understanding is needed and involvement from all stakeholders is encouraged. Although some of them do not know clearly about CBT, they (93%) really showed their interests in involving and participating since it is believed that CBT can bring more benefits to local people through local employment, contributes to local development and well-being while conserving local cultural and natural resources, provides real local experiences and crosscultural understanding, and provide alternative option to other types of tourism. However, only few tour operators were not interest in CBT. The reasons can be due to the unawareness of advantages of CBT and responsible tourism on their business operation and it can be due to the reason that they are not specialized in this kind of tourism. They focus mainly on their specific niche market for cultural and temple tourism. Based on the recognition of the importance and advantages of CBT on their operation as well as poverty alleviation, some tour operators have included CBT as one of their products. Those CBT sites are: Kampong Pluk, Prek Toal, Banteay Chhmar in Tonle Sap region; Putaing Village, Norng Lek village, Yeak Loam community in the Northeast region; Chambok community in the Cardamom region; and Kampong Sala, Koh Kong, and Ka Dong in the Coastal region. More of the tour operators (64.4%) do not focus on CBT yet. The reasons behind this were that there is no demand for such a kind of product since their companies were specialized in cultural tourism rather than nature based tourism or CBT. One more thing, the information about CBT was not able to reach the target market as well as tour operators. 18

However, since the sustainable tour operator screening is very limited in term of data collection and information sharing among tour companies, the results cannot be generalized or represent the whole tour companies in Cambodia. But at least, it was found that only specialist tour operators 11 or tour companies are interested in CBT and would like to involve more in sustainable tourism development. Based on the observation in reality, there are not many specialist tour operators who are really committed to CBT and sustainable tourism development in Cambodia. The main focus of most tour companies is temple and cultural tourism rather than nature-based tourism. Moreover, they mainly focus on economic benefit and leave other social concerned factor such as culture and environment. One of the constraints regarding to the development of CBT is the lack of information sharing and involvement from relevant stakeholders particularly private sector. Therefore, more awareness raising should be provided among all important stakeholders to encourage stakeholder involvement and participation, and at the same time more effort should be focused on CBT marketing and promotion in the early stage. Thus, CBT and sustainable tourism would be promoted by multi-stakeholders through the tourism channels and network. Comments from tour operators/tour companies The following are some critical comments from tour operators/tour companies about CBT and sustainable tourism development in Cambodia. - Since there is lack of understanding about the concept, clear and accurate information, explanation and awareness raising about CBT sites and sustainable tourism should be provided to all stakeholders. Moreover, CBT guidebook should be developed and distributed to private sector as well as visitors. - Accurate, obvious and up to date information of the CBT or ecotourism situation at the sites should be provided to tour operators regularly. Therefore, tour operators can prepare a package tour or send the visitors to the sites. - It is requested to involve communities with tour operators in price setting of the package tour or nature-based tour products in order to avoid conflict in benefit sharing. - To bring more benefits to local people, the issue of economical leakage should be taken into account. - Developing CBT or ecotourism, 3 aspects should be concerned such as price of the products and services, sanitation/hygiene of the products (such as homestay, food and surrounding environment), and security and safety of the destinations. - Environment conservation and protection should be focused in order to develop tourism sustainably. Every stakeholder (private sector, government, local people, and NGO) has a role in protecting both cultural resources and natural environment. - More CBT or ecotourism marketing and promotion should be conducted to the target visitors who are suitable for this kind of products. - Tour operator/tour company should collaborate and work closely with NGOs or conservation projects to improve living standard and benefit local people, minimize impacts and to ensure safety and security in the destinations. 11 Specialist tour operator focuses mainly on nature-based tour or adventure tour which can provide the real local experience to particular visitors who wish to take the tour. 19

APPENDICE Appendix 1 Table Summary of Results Indicators Awareness of CBT CBT definition Interest in CBT Reasons of interest in CBT Currently include CBT as one of product Communities which Tour Operators currently work with Reasons of not including CBT as one of the product Number of Percentage Respondents Yes 34 54.8 No 28 45.2 62 respondents Culture (promote local culture, 13 22.8 conserve culture, cross cultural understanding) Socio-economic (local employment, 13 22.8 benefit to community, use local products, improve living standard, small scale tourism) Environment (conserve and protect 9 15.8 environment) Management (local ownership, 3 5.3 support community development and support local management) Host guest experience (provide 9 15.8 experience to tourists, opportunity for interaction between community and tourists) Rural tourism 10 17.5 57 responses Yes 54 93.1 No 4 6.9 58 respondents Local employment and benefit to 17 35.4 local Product diversification and 3 6.3 development Local development and improve 12 25 living standard Host-guest experiences 7 14.6 Company policy and guidelines 2 4.2 Conservation and protection 3 6.3 Other 4 8.3 48 responses Yes 21 45.6 No 38 64.4 59 respondents Cardamom region 6 20 Tonle Sap 9 30 Coastal area 3 10 Northeast 8 26.7 Other 4 13.3 30 responses No demand 14 51.9 Lack of information 10 37 No CBT sites in the operating 2 7.4 regions Other 1 3.7 27 responses 20

Expectation of including CBT as one of the products Increase level of customer 21 17.9 satisfaction More profit to company 20 17.1 More customers 15 12.8 More profits to communities 28 23.9 More product variety 24 20.5 Other 9 7.7 117 responses Economic Principle More than 70% of staff are local people More than 50% of products are locally produced Company s policy to encourage guests to use local products Company has partnership with local suppliers Yes 50 80.6 No 7 11.3 N/A 5 8.1 62 respondents Yes 46 74.2 No 11 17.7 N/A 5 8.1 62 respondents Yes 48 77.4 No 8 12.9 N/A 6 9.7 62 respondents Yes 46 74.2 No 11 17.7 N/A 5 8.1 62 respondents Social Principles Inform guest about the locally acceptable behavior and dress Educate guests about local culture and respect Yes 35 56.5 No 21 33.9 N/A 6 9.7 62 respondents Yes 39 62.9 No 16 25.8 N/A 7 11.3 62 respondents Yes 43 69.4 No 7 11.3 N/A 12 19.4 Allow guests to involve with local communities or ceremony 62 respondents Follow rules and regulations of the communities Company has good relationship with community Yes 43 69.4 No 5 8.1 N/A 14 22.6 62 respondents Yes 43 69.4 No 3 4.8 N/A 16 25.8 62 respondents Yes 33 53.2 No 13 21 N/A 16 25.8 Company supports local communities or NGO for betterment of the communities 62 respondents Means of supporting NGO and communities for betterment of the communities Support financially 13 35.1 Support by active participation 24 64.9 37 responses 21