Between awareness and action: a dual-gap governance translation framework for sustainable tourism development in Indonesia

This study proposes a Dual-Gap Governance Translation Framework to explain sustainability implementation challenges in decentralized tourism destinations. Drawing on stakeholder perceptions across 16 districts in Magelang Regency, Indonesia, the study identifies an awareness–action gap in environmental sustainability and a provision–distribution gap in economic sustainability. Using a mixed-method design integrating the Triple Bottom Line and Triple Helix frameworks, data from 47 stakeholders were analyzed through composite indices, correlation analysis, analysis of variance, and thematic analysis. Although overall sustainability perceptions were high (M = 3.83), environmental management scored lowest despite relatively high environmental awareness, while perceptions of institutional support exceeded perceived economic impact. The findings suggest that sustainability challenges in decentralized tourism systems stem less from lack of commitment than from limitations in institutional coordination, implementation capacity, and governance integration.