SACRED SITES, STALLED CAPITAL: INVESTMENT READINESS ACROSS INDONESIA'S CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS TOURISM DESTINATIONS

Abstract

The Government of Indonesia designated five Super Priority Destinations (DSP): Lake Toba, Borobudur-Yogyakarta-Prambanan, Mandalika (Lombok-Gili Tramena), Labuan Bajo, and Likupang (Manado-Likupang), to redistribute tourism investment beyond Bali; three also carry cultural or religious heritage significance, including Borobudur (a Buddhist pilgrimage site) and Danau Toba (the Batak cultural homeland). This study tests whether investment concentration across these destinations tracks a proposed mechanism, connectivity-infrastructure readiness, an operational international airport combined with a legally settled special economic zone or authority board, using quarterly 2025 Domestic Direct Investment (PMDN) data in tourism and creative-economy (ekraf) sectors. A descriptive-quantitative method used frequency distribution, concentration-ratio analysis (CR3/CR5), and coefficient-of-variation trend analysis. National creative-economy investment (IDR 285.4 billion, 33 of 38 provinces) is sharply concentrated in Bali, Jakarta, and East Java, absorbing 86.3 percent of the total, while PMDN investment across the five DSPs reached only IDR 5.67 trillion, about 6.8 percent of national secondary-sector investment. Lombok-Gili Tramena and Labuan Bajo jointly command 73.8 percent of DSP investment, consistent with meeting readiness conditions, whereas Lake Toba contributed a mere 0.8 percent despite eight years of priority status and an unresolved land-use authority. Quarterly volatility varies sharply: Labuan Bajo and Lombok show extreme single-quarter spikes consistent with lumpy investment, while Manado-Likupang shows steady growth instead. Creative-economy investment does not follow this pattern, indicating a distinct locational logic tied to existing economic agglomeration.