Identification of Financial Literacy level – Case Study of Small Business Owner or Manager in Gowa Regency

Abstract

The tourism sector is stimulated as a source of national foreign exchange, a provider of employment and a means of equitable distribution of national income. As a tourist destination, Gowa Regency has also been managed to take advantage of the existing tourism potential, such as natural beauty, distinctive culture and values ​​held by the people of Gowa – Makassar. Utilization of cultural potential will be maximized if it involves all stakeholders such as the government, indigenous peoples, educational institutions and the arts. One of these stakeholders is the owner of small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which can become actors in the tourism industry as well as beneficiaries of the tourism. MSMEs have a strategic role in strategic development to take advantage of tourism potential. To optimize this strategic role, tourism MSME owners in Gowa need to be financially literate enough to be able to manage finances and utilize their resources by paying attention to sustainability both from the aspect of their own business and those related to a sustainable environment. The first stage of this research is to identify the financial literacy level of 30 tourism MSMEs in Gowa Regency. The method used is to conduct structured interviews with 30 owners/managers of tourism MSMEs. This study found that the level of financial literacy of tourism MSME owners was still low. This can be seen from the lack of supporting documents for standard financial transactions and respondents' responses about the items used to measure the level of financial literacy which are still at the level of ignorance or non-existence. Suggestions for policy makers are that efforts are needed to increase the financial literacy of tourism MSME owners in Gowa Regency in particular and Indonesia in general by providing ongoing training to existing MSME owners.