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On Indonesia’s beach-fringed resort island of Bali, fed-up locals want to slow the mass tourism that is their biggest money earner — hoping a plan to freeze hotel-building can restore some calm.<\/p>\n
Anxious about runaway tourism, many Balinese yearn for a more tranquil yesteryear, much like residents in European hotspots Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca or Venice.<\/p>\n
In response, Indonesian authorities recently announced plans — yet to be confirmed by the new government — for a two-year moratorium on building hotels, villas and nightclubs.<\/p>\n
Before foreign surfers discovered its waves decades ago, Canggu was a quiet, southern Balinese beachside village perched on the Indian Ocean and dotted with rice paddy fields.<\/p>\n
Now, it bristles with hotels and lodgings, its streets clogged with cars, scooters and trucks.<\/p>\n
Locals like 23-year-old Kadek Candrawati fear the environment is taking second place.<\/p>\n
“Canggu is now busier… its tranquillity and greenery are gradually disappearing,” said Kadek, who owns a motorcycle rental service that earns her seven million rupiah ($453) monthly.<\/p>\n
“The government and the community need to work together to ensure that Bali stays green, sustainable, and the local culture is preserved,” she told AFP.<\/p>\n
“I hope that Bali’s tourism can continue to grow, while maintaining a balance between development and the environment.”<\/p>\n
– ‘New Singapore’ –<\/p>\n
Bali’s lush canvas of rainforests, paddies and surf beaches that host luxury resorts and backpacker haunts has kept tourists coming back.<\/p>\n
When tourism numbers slumped during the Covid pandemic, the authorities tried to coax foreigners back into Bali with digital-nomad and golden-investor visas.<\/p>\n
No such incentives are needed now.<\/p>\n
Bali attracted nearly three million foreign visitors in just the first six months of this year — mostly from Australia, China and India, official figures show.<\/p>\n
Foreign tourists spent an average of $1,625 per visit last year, up from $1,145 in 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic, Indonesia’s statistics agency said.<\/p>\n
It is far from certain that Indonesia’s newly inaugurated President Prabowo Subianto wants to curb that income.<\/p>\n
The previous government had promised both a tourism-related construction freeze and a light rail system to ease traffic in Bali.<\/p>\n
But Prabowo — yet to comment on the plans — has raised doubts that he wants to arrest Bali’s development.<\/p>\n
Meeting island officials recently, he pledged a second international airport to turn Bali into “the new Singapore, the new Hong Kong… an economic centre”.<\/p>\n
Indonesian environmental group Walhi says the boom in tourism accommodation has already gone too far.<\/p>\n
“Bali is now overbuilt, with green spaces turning into structures,” said executive director Made Krisna Dinata.<\/p>\n
“The proposed moratorium should become a regulation that not only pauses development but also protects lands.”<\/p>\n
The damage to Bali’s natural beauty is visible to the eye.<\/p>\n
A wave of plastic trash has swamped normally pristine beaches, while groundwater over-extraction has dried up more than half its rivers.<\/p>\n
Over-tourism has also put pressure on a UNESCO-listed irrigation system that feeds the island’s rice paddies, with greenlands that collect water increasingly built upon.<\/p>\n
– ‘Dirty seawater’ –<\/p>\n
Local concerns have been fed by viral videos showing excavations of limestone cliffs for construction in southern Bali, with chunks of land tumbling into the ocean.<\/p>\n
“Many surf coaches have lost their livelihoods because guests are unwilling to surf due to the dirty seawater,” said 42-year-old surfer Piter Panjaitan in nearby Ungasan.<\/p>\n
Misbehaving tourists have also sparked local ire, notably over foreigners posing naked at sacred sites.<\/p>\n
“There are a lot of problems with guests who come here,” said Piter.<\/p>\n
Jakarta says the building freeze plan aims to balance economic gain from tourism with preserving Bali’s natural beauty.<\/p>\n
The head of Bali’s tourism agency Tjok Bagus Pemayun said a moratorium would spread tourism development away from southern Bali, where it is now heavily focused.<\/p>\n
But not everyone is in favour of the proposed halt to construction.<\/p>\n
Bali’s hotel and restaurant association vice-chairman, I Gusti Ngurah Rai Suryawijaya, called for a deeper study before any moratorium that could hurt tourism-reliant locals.<\/p>\n
“When there’s oversupply, a moratorium is acceptable to prevent competition. But now, demand is actually increasing,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Our occupancy rates have reached 80 to 90 percent.”<\/p>\n
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