Diagnosing tourism development priorities in Samota, Indonesia

Samota, an emerging destination on Sumbawa Island, Indonesia, has been designated a strategic tourism area to stimulate local economic growth; yet development remains fragmented across key destination components. This study assesses Samota's development prospects using the four pillars of tourism development — attractions, accessibility, amenities, and supporting services — based on a survey of 179 tourists, tourism businesses, and destination managers. Principal component analysis (PCA) is employed to identify the latent structure of the pillars and their relative strengths. The results place Samota in a conditional prospect category: each pillar shows development potential, but weak integration limits competitive advantage. Component scores indicate that strengthening amenities is the most urgent priority, followed by improving accessibility quality, upgrading supporting services, and consolidating and packaging existing attractions into coherent products. The findings support a staged, integration-oriented roadmap for emerging destinations seeking competitiveness and sustainable local economic impact.

Destinations · Key (lock) · Local Development · Pillar · Sustainable development · Tourism · Tourist destinations · Diverse Aspects of Tourism Research · Local Economic Development and Planning · Smart Cities and Technologies