Quantifying villager readiness in rural tourism: an application of analytical hierarchy process (AHP)

ABSTRACT While many studies neglect to assess villager readiness for tourism-based village development, this present study addresses this issue by providing a quantitative measurement to evaluate villager readiness towards tourism programmes. Using Balesari village -an emerging tourism village in Indonesia- as a case, the level of readiness was measured. To better capture the actual condition, the present study applied Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to weigh each dimension based on stakeholders’ priority. Drawing from the key stakeholders’ dimension weighting and field survey of 187 respondents, we can quantify the readiness level and provide detailed descriptions of villager readiness in a tourism development project. The result of this study may inform policymakers in assessing rural tourism development projects from the villagers’ perspective.