Bali: Is it becoming another Ibiza?

Todd Elliot, a Jakarta-based analyst with the Concord Consulting Group, has released a controversial assessment of Bali’s future as a tourism destination.

He asks whether “the celebrated island of the gods is a deteriorating tourist shanty town?”

This is an edited version of Elliot’s assessment, provided by Bali Update (www.balidiscovery.com)

“Behind the facade of surf shops, nightclubs and artist communities, forces are at work that could see Bali’s impressive rise coming to a grinding halt.

Ironically, at the root of the problems, which include rampant development, dwindling natural resources, a diminishing unique culture and increased communal tensions, are the millions of tourists that flock annually to the island and make it one of the richest parts of Indonesia.

According to the Central Statistics Agency, 1.17 million foreign tourists arrived in Bali in the first half of the year, a 9.52 percent increase from the 1.07 million in the same period last year.

Australian tourists, in particular, have doubled every two years since the start of 2006, only months after the last terrorist bombings on the island.

Last year, 446,570 Australian tourists visited Bali, up 42.6 percent from 2008.

The increasing number of visitors to Bali and the industries catering to them continue to place undue pressure on the island’s natural resources and halcyon way of life.

There are concerns that the small island could turn into another Ibiza, Spain, which is known for both its crime wave and wild nightlife.

In prime areas such as Seminyak, mostly foreign-backed villa developments have driven land prices as high as Rp 10 million per square meter.

Projects like these have caused Bali’s famed rice fields to vanish.

On the surface, this may appear a good thing, since the tourism sector accounts for around 30 percent of gross regional domestic product.

But community leaders fear that generations of Balinese — who make an average monthly income of $100 — are bought out of their own land and resources, which they mostly use for agriculture.

Bali Governor I Made Mangku Pastika has acknowledged the issues confronting the island.

Pastika has admitted that his administration is finding it difficult to control the increase of villas and hotels in the province due to the regional autonomy law, which gives mayors and district heads the authority to directly issue construction and business permits.

The Tourism Board’s Wijaya echoed the governor’s sentiments. "Are we going to become another Ibiza? We don’t need millions of visitors or all these hotel rooms going up all the time," he said.

"Mass tourism would kill Bali and its unique heritage. The central government has given local authorities too free a hand since decentralization in 2001."

The population and development boom has affected nearly every aspect of life in the island, not least of all crime.

Police last month reported the crime rate in Bali has shot up 14.8 percent in the first half of 2010 compared with the same period last year, with the tourism hubs of Denpasar and Badung regencies topping the list of crime-ridden areas.

Development in Bali is also bringing stark health risks, namely HIV and AIDS, as sex workers from across Indonesia and Southeast Asia have flocked to the island to cash in on tourist cash.

Bali’s booming commercial sex trade has grown along with its tourism sector, with an estimated 10,000 prostitutes, mostly in Badung regency. HIV/AIDS infection rates among sex workers are estimated to be as high as 30 percent.

Looking ahead, Bali is set to raise its profile higher still by playing host to a number of major events, including the 2013 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit and the 2014 Miss World pageant.

While development and investment from the tourism boom in Bali may appear positive in the short term — especially for those raking in profits — if not properly managed, as appears the case at the moment, it could have drastic consequences that may be impossible to reverse, turning the vaunted island of the gods into a tourist slum,” Elliot says.