<![CDATA[This study examines why local culture and human resource capability do not automatically translate into sustained MSME participation and business continuity in Mandalika, Central Lombok, Indonesia. An exploratory qualitative case study was conducted using semi-structured interviews with 17 key informants in September and October 2025, consisting of 14 institutional representatives and three MSME owners or managers from culinary, handicraft and textile, and homestay businesses. Interviews were documented through detailed contemporaneous field notes and analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis with cross-stakeholder comparison. The findings identify five interrelated barriers: weak authenticity and product differentiation, incomplete business readiness, uneven hospitality and marketing capability, limited conversion of destination visibility into stable demand, and fragmented institutional coordination. These barriers are further interpreted through six stakeholder access gates involving cultural legitimacy, regulatory certification, capability development, selling space and procurement, visitor flow, and market information. Misalignment across these access points may limit the economic use of local culture and human resource capability and contribute to uneven MSME participation. The study proposes a five-pillar framework consisting of institutionalized collaboration, community-led cultural curation and provenance, tiered MSME incubation, integrated destination experiences, and shared monitoring and policy learning. Because the evidence is cross-sectional and includes only three MSME informants, the findings should be interpreted as context-bounded analytical insights rather than representative or longitudinal evidence of business continuity.]]>
