APPLICATION OF THE ANALYTIC HIERARCHY PROCESS FOR DETERMINING DEVELOPMENT PRIORITIES IN COMMUNITY-BASED TOURISM: A CASE STUDY OF GOA-7 IN UMA-ANA-ICO VILLAGE, TIMOR-LESTE
Keywords:
Community-based tourism, Analytic Hierarchy Process, tourism development, decision-making, priority analysisAbstract
The tourism sector plays a strategic role in regional development, particularly in rural areas with significant natural and cultural resources. However, community-based tourism development often faces challenges such as limited accessibility, inadequate infrastructure, and the lack of systematic planning, as observed at the Goa-7 tourism site in Uma-Ana-Ico Village, Timor-Leste. This study aimed to determine tourism development priorities using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Five experts participated in pairwise comparisons to calculate priority weights and assess consistency. The findings identified accessibility (0.49) as the highest priority, followed by infrastructure (0.24), community participation (0.14), economic potential (0.10), and environmental sustainability (0.05). The consistency ratio (CR = 0.046) confirmed the reliability of the evaluation. The results indicate that improving accessibility and infrastructure should be prioritized to support sustainable community-based tourism development. The study demonstrates that AHP provides an objective and systematic framework for establishing tourism development priorities and supporting evidence-based decision-making.
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