Indonesia is looking to prohibit the construction of new hotels, villas, discos and nightclubs in certain areas of Bali in order to combat the consequences of overtourism. News agency Antara mentions four regions on Bali: Canggu, Seminyak, Uluwatu and Ubud. It is no coincidence that those are also the most popular places to visit amongst tourists.
The proposal for the ban was submitted to the Indonesian Ministry of Maritime and Investment Affairs by Bali’s provincial government, lead by interim governor Sang Made Mahendra Jaya. The Ministry responded positively to the demand, although it is unclear when precisely the new regulation will go into effect and how long it will last. According to news website Detik, that quoted Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Pandjaitan, it could be for up to a decade.
Since the Covid pandemic, tourism in Bali has taken off once again and many are concerned for the consequences of all those visitors on the local culture, nature and infrastructure. In the first half of the year alone, 2,9 million foreign visitors entered the island through Bali airport – a number that doesn’t even take into account those arriving in other ways. Unsurprisingly, the number of hotels increases steadily to cater to those tourists, with 541 hotels being registered on Bali in 2023 (compared to 507 in 2019).
Those construction works aren’t the only way in which the island is adapting to foreign visitors. Traffic jams have become a daily reality, with the road system not being adapted to so many voyagers. Tourists are also caught misbehaving and lacking respect for the local sites, for example by stripping down in temples and by driving irresponsibly. The fact that many small stalls are selling alcohol and thus getting tourists drunk in public only adds to the problem, according to interim governer Sang Made Mahendra Jaya.
With 80% of Bali’s economy depending on tourism-related income, many digital nomads setting up camps on the island and around 200,000 foreigners living there permanently, Bali is struggling to find a way to handle the number of tourists and maintain its individuality. A tourist tax was introduced earlier this year, but many argue the amount is too low to have any effect. The government is now thus looking for other ways to keep overtourism at bay, including the ban on hotels and the construction of a railway connecting the airport to popular tourist destinations.
