Local community engagement in a festival in Indonesia

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the patterns of local community engagement in a festival held in Indonesia to boost tourism development. Design/methodology/approach The study uses in-depth interview and observation to answer the research problem. Findings The result reveals that the local community actively engaged in the festival, but not strategically or as per the planning process. The reasons were the local community’s lack of confidence and lack of ability. Research limitations/implications This research provides a case study of one festival area and the finding may not be applied generally. Practical implications The result indicates that the local government may encourage the local community by giving them motivation to raise their self-confidence and equipping them with training in basic principles of festival management. Then, the local government can engage them in the organizing committee. This would enable the local community to be strategically engaged in the festival. Originality/value This result identifies reasons for lack of local community engagement in an Indonesian festival.