COLLABORATIVE GOVERNANCE IN COMMUNITY-BASED TOURISM POLICY FOR SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

Community-based tourism (CBT) has increasingly been recognized as a critical instrument for achieving sustainable tourism development, particularly in developing countries where local communities remain the primary custodians of natural and cultural tourism resources. However, the effectiveness of CBT initiatives is fundamentally contingent upon the quality of governance frameworks that coordinate the diverse and often competing interests of government agencies, local communities, private sector actors, civil society organizations, and international development partners. Collaborative governance—an institutional arrangement that brings multiple public and private stakeholders into a common decision-making forum oriented toward consensus—offers a promising framework for aligning these interests toward shared sustainable development objectives. Despite the growing body of literature on collaborative governance and community-based tourism separately, systematic empirical analysis of how collaborative governance mechanisms specifically shape the formulation and implementation of CBT policies for sustainable tourism outcomes remains limited. This study aims to analyze collaborative governance dynamics in community-based tourism policy and their implications for sustainable tourism development, examining stakeholder engagement processes, institutional coordination mechanisms, power dynamics, and sustainability outcome indicators. A qualitative case study approach was employed, with data collected through in-depth interviews with 38 key informants, participatory observation, and documentary analysis across three purposively selected CBT destinations in Indonesia. Findings reveal that effective collaborative governance in CBT policy is characterized by four interconnected dimensions: (1) inclusive multi-stakeholder platform design that ensures authentic community representation beyond elite capture; (2) adaptive co-management mechanisms that enable flexible policy adjustment in response to tourism ecosystem changes; (3) equitable benefit-sharing arrangements that maintain community incentive alignment with conservation objectives; and (4) institutional capacity building that enhances community actors' meaningful participation in technical policy processes. The study proposes a Collaborative Governance Framework for Sustainable CBT Policy (CGSCBT) that integrates these dimensions into a coherent analytical and practical guide for tourism policy design. Findings contribute to the growing literature on governance for sustainable development and offer practical implications for tourism policymakers, local governments, and community development practitioners across emerging tourism destinations.