Rational Community Boycott in Response to the Failure of Tourism Policy’s Interpretive Effects: An Analysis of the Collapse of Tourism Awareness Groups (Pokdarwis) in Lima Puluh Kota, Indonesia

Abstract

This study aims to explain why 29 Tourism Awareness Groups (Pokdarwis) in Lima Puluh Kota Regency, Indonesia, have become inactive despite tourist arrivals reaching a post-pandemic peak of 749,139 visitors in 2022—a paradox that cannot be adequately explained by the human resource capacity deficit framework commonly employed in the literature. Employing a qualitative approach with a most-different comparative case study design, the research compares Lembah Harau, where Pokdarwis is inactive, and Kapalo Banda Taram, where community-based tourism management remains active. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with twelve key informants, field observations, and policy document analysis. The data were analysed using Miles and Huberman's interactive model, integrating Campbell's (2012) Policy Feedback Theory and Olson's (1965) Collective Action Theory. The findings reveal that the collapse of Pokdarwis in Harau resulted from systemic failures across three dimensions of interpretive effects: exploitative administrative design, the erosion of psychological proximity due to centralised governance, and the formation of negative interpretive meanings regarding state intervention. In contrast, these three dimensions operated positively in Taram, enabling Pokdarwis to remain active without direct intervention from the tourism agency. The study concludes that community non-participation constitutes a rational boycott—a deliberate and calculated collective response to policy failure rather than an expression of apathy. These findings extend the applicability of Policy Feedback Theory to community mobilisation in the context of tourism governance in developing countries.