Digital Visibility and Planning Capacity as Asymmetric Drivers of Uneven Tourism Development

Digital tourism promotion is widely assumed to support destination development by increasing exposure and demand. Yet, in many emerging destinations, greater digital visibility has intensified spatial and institutional in equalities. This article explains this paradox by examining how platform-mediated visibility interacts with uneven planning capacity. Using Indonesia as a decentralized governance context, the study applies a theory-driven qualitative comparative institutional analysis of planning instruments, regulatory arrangements, digital visibility traces, and development trajectories across destinations with contrasting levels of exposure and readiness. The findings show that digital visibility often grows faster than local planning capacity, creating temporal mismatches that encourage spatial concentration, selective infrastructure investment, and unequal benefit distribution. Where governance, coordination, and implementation capacity are weak, platforms amplify existing institutional asymmetries. Where planning capacity is stronger, destinations can manage visibility pressures through sequencing, regulation, and coordination. The article conceptualizes digital visibility as an asymmetric institutional amplifier producing divergent development outcomes.