A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Science in Urban Environmental Management, School of Environment, Resources and Development

Thesis (M. Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2016

Green procurement (GP) is important in tourism industry because goods are purchased by tourism businesscan have a significant impact on the environment. This study investigatedopportunities and challenges in adopting GP in tourism industry, using Siem Reap tourism city ascase study.The studyalso highlighted the GP practices in hotels. Mix-research methodsincluding, questionnaire surveys, KIIs,and document reviews, were employed for data collection. A statisticalanalysis was performed to rank the opportunities and challenges of GP from hotel respondents. Informationfrom KIIswas used to validate and complement the results from the statisticalanalysis.The findings revealedthat the major opportunities of GP include the reduction of natural resources usage, improvement of hotel environments, and financial saving;whilst unavailabilityofproducts and lack of regulation on GP and awareness as the main challenges. Itwasalso found that the high cost of GP was not the main challenge in this study. Mostof the hotels have already adopted GP practice, and to some extent several hotels have purchased products with eco-labels, commonly No.5 EnergyLabel and Energy Star Label. To enhance GP practice, the study proposed measures includingGP regulations, eco-labelingprogramto create market for green products, and subsidize for GP practice. The findings canbe useful for policy makers usingopportunities and challengesto formulate appropriate strategies to effectively implement GP. Furthermore, this study has risen up the issue of GP which is quite new in tourism industry.