Strengthening Destination Governance Through Integrated Tourism Development: Evidence From Air Manis Beach Padang, Indonesia

Abstract

This study investigates strategies to enhance destination governance in the integrated development of coastal tourism, situating Air Manis Beach in Padang, West Sumatra, as a strategically significant case. The destination is endowed with considerable natural and cultural capital, most notably the culturally resonant Malin Kundang legend, and has been investigated through diverse thematic lenses in prior scholarship. Nevertheless, a meaningful gap persists in the synthesis of governance strengthening, spatial planning, institutional coordination, and strategic policy formulation into a single, coherent developmental framework. To address this gap, the research employs a descriptive qualitative design, triangulating structured field observation and in-depth interviews. Discussions involving all five elements of the Pentahelix model, corroborated by documentary analysis of regional spatial and tourism planning instruments and thematic analysis. Three principal findings emerge. First, the destination possesses a diverse portfolio of attractions, accessibility, amenities, and ancillary assets that constitute a robust foundation for a coherent, experience-oriented visitor journey. Second, governance represents the most critical dimension for improvement, encompassing inter-institutional coordination, formalised service standards and operating procedures, environmental management, visitor comfort, and systematic area-retribution arrangements. Third, the study proposes a phased integrated development framework, sequencing early low-cost improvements before institutionally demanding governance reform. The findings contribute an empirically grounded account of how destination competitiveness and Pentahelix governance interact in a locally managed coastal setting, and offer a transferable governance model for comparable, locally managed coastal destinations across Indonesia.