Empowering Tourism Village Communities Through Hospitality and Service Excellence Training to Enhance Destination Competitiveness

Abstract

Tourism villages rely heavily on local hospitality to create memorable visitor experiences and drive sustainable rural economic growth. However, community-based tourism actors often lack formal training in professional service standards, effective communication, and grievance management. This community engagement study aimed to empower local stakeholders in a tourism village by enhancing their competencies in hospitality and service excellence. Utilizing a participatory action approach, the intervention was conducted from May to June 2026 and involved 30 key participants, including local tourism awareness groups (Pokdarwis), homestay owners, MSME actors, and tour guides. The program comprised interactive lectures, practical simulations, grooming ethics, and grievance handling scenarios. Quantitative evaluation through pre- and post-tests demonstrated significant improvements across all core indicators: hospitality awareness increased from 60\% to 90\%, service excellence comprehension improved from 55\% to 88\%, service communication skills rose from 65\% to 92\%, and tourist complaint handling capacity surged from 50\% to 85\%. Participatory role-playing simulations proved to be the most impactful method in boosting participants' confidence and service readiness. These empirical findings demonstrate that structured capacity building effectively bridges local cultural authenticity with professional service quality, fostering local human resource empowerment and destination competitiveness. Continuous assistance and advanced modules in digital marketing and foreign language proficiency are recommended to sustain these outcomes.