The readiness assessment of Jakarta as a smart tourism city

Global movements toward smart cities are expanding–the concept is anticipated to address a wide range of urbanization-related issues. Over the past decade, the concept of ‘smart tourism destination’ has gained popularity as a way to incorporate smart city principles into the tourism industry. More recent studies, however, have revealed that there is frequently a disconnection between the execution of smart city and tourism strategies on a local level, as the two have distinct priorities. The former focuses on the resident’s quality of life, while the latter concerns the visitor’s experience. As a result, the two objectives are currently integrated by a new paradigm dubbed ‘smart tourism city’, which also serves as the study’s vantage point. This article aims to investigate Jakarta’s potential as a smart tourism city. Besides serving as the capital city and being recognized as an urban destination, Jakarta is also a city pioneer for smart city development in Indonesia. To achieve the proposed objectives, this paper used qualitative methods. Data were collected through primary data using a dataset for observation checklist, followed by Focus Groups Discussions (FGD) with stakeholders to ensure the validity of the data and secondary data through desk study. Qualitative data was quantified to assess the sample district’s readiness, with points assigned to responses based on FGD, observation, and secondary sources. Four attributes of a smart tourism city—attractiveness, accessibility, digitalization readiness, and sustainability—are modified and applied in the observation and secondary data analysis of 14 Jakarta districts. The findings indicated that six districts have the most potential to be the pilot for smart tourism city development. It also revealed that while Jakarta has potential and strengths in two aspects, attractiveness and accessibility, the government must advance its digitalization and sustainability-related factors in order to construct a smart tourism city.