Indonesia’s Minister for Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Pandjaitan, dropped a bombshell while visiting the island of Bali last week, suggesting that the Government wants the popular tourist island to move away from being a backpacker destination.
Discussing the plan to be more selective about the sort of people that will be allowed to visit the island once it reopens to international tourism, the minister said, “We will filter tourists that come visit. We don’t want backpackers to come so that Bali remains clean, where the people who come are of quality.”
The push to ensure that Bali becomes less reliant on tourism has gained traction since the global coronavirus pandemic shuttered the economy and has added weight to long held concerns that the island is over-developed and that mass tourism is having a detrimental impact on the island’s traditional culture as well as the environment.
Bali has nevertheless, long been one of the world’s top backpacker destinations, with it’s allure of exotic temples, stunning beaches and party atmosphere and the hostels and local eating houses that these travellers frequented prior to the covid pandemic directly supported local families and channeled millions of dollars a year into the Balinese economy.
Whether or not the plan to ban backpackers ever comes to fruition, or whether the Minister indeed has the authority to enforce such a plan remains to be seen, however, if the island is to recast itself as a high end tourist destination, the financial benefits could well become skewed more towards large hotel chains and multinational retailers than the population at large.