<![CDATA[This study examines how a community-based tourism village sustains its destination planning capacity after receiving international recognition, a question that remains under-researched because existing work concentrates on the factors that carry a village to an award rather than on what happens afterwards. Nglanggeran Tourism Village in Gunungkidul, named a UNWTO Best Tourism Village in 2021, serves as an instrumental case study. Working within a constructivist paradigm, the study gathered data through participant observation during the Indonesian Ecotourism Network Gathering, a focus group discussion with the Chair of the Tourism Awareness Group, a field survey covering all tourist attractions including the Ancient Volcano trek, and a review of management presentation documents and visitor data from 2012 to 2025, analysed through reflexive thematic analysis and source triangulation. The visitor data reveal a pattern contrary to common expectation: visits were not restored to their 2014 peak of 325,303, but were instead held within a range of 70,000 to 111,000 throughout 2022 to 2025, while revenue per visitor rose from roughly IDR 4,400 to IDR 33,000. Five mechanisms sustain post-recognition planning: institutional layering, centralised benefit distribution, calibrated visitation, institutional political neutrality, and narrative stewardship. The study proposes a framework of post-recognition planning resilience and argues that recognition should be planned for as a governance shock rather than celebrated as a finish line]]>
