T This study aims to develop a community-based tourism (cbt) model to support sustainable tourism performance in the priority tourism destination of the borobudur temple area. employing a quantitative approach and hypothesis testing, the research investigates the relationships among collaboration, pentahelix synergy, and innovative leadership (as independent variables), community-based tourism (as a mediating variable), sustainable tourism (as a dependent variable), and government policy (as a moderating variable). data were collected through questionnaires distributed to 218 respondents consisting of cbt stakeholders in 20 villages surrounding borobudur temple. partial least squares structural equation modeling (pls-sem) was used to analyze the data. the results show that collaboration, pentahelix synergy, and innovative leadership have a positive and significant effect on cbt. furthermore, cbt mediates the relationship between pentahelix synergy and sustainable tourism, with the strongest effect observed between pentahelix synergy and cbt. government policy also significantly moderates the effect of cbt on sustainable tourism. the findings provide theoretical and practical implications: (1) strengthening multi-stakeholder collaboration is essential as a strategic foundation for sustainable cbt management; (2) public policies should support the decentralization of community roles and institutionalized governance mechanisms among pentahelix actors; (3) the study fills a gap in the literature by integrating innovative leadership, cross-sectoral collaboration, and pentahelix synergy into a conceptual model applicable to rural and heritage-based tourism; and (4) the results offer practical guidance for developing local leadership, empowering small and medium enterprises (smes), and fostering innovation ecosystems that enhance the competitiveness of tourism communities.keywords: collaboration, pentahelix synergy, innovative leadership, community based tourism, sustainable tourism