Bali's Love-Hate Relationship With Tourism On Indonesian Island Paradise | Insight | Full Episode

You just cannot turn your place into something else just to please the tourists. Did Paris built Chinese themed hotels, Chinese opera houses or Chinese style bar to attract Chinese tourists? Heck no. Bali should stay Balinese. If some Aussie tourists lament about how hard it is to find western style beer…remind him to go back home to find one. The problem with Bali and Thailand is that they try to appease western tourists too much they themselves turn into western people. Japan has one of the highest tourist numbers in Asia and they stick to what they are.

As someone who born, raised in Bali and pretty much raised by the "tourism money", i had seen the good the bad and the ugly of what the tourism brings to my home island. To put it simply, the good is that it had help pull out many families out of poverty and raised the living standard significantly, like i still remember how my hometown changed from this completely rural village like typical southeast asian village into quite a decent well built quite prosperous town in the span of like 10 years thanks to many of my villager went to work in the tourism industry. Economically its a blessing but it also brings high congestion, polution and degrading our traditional values that we are so very proud of due to demand in work hours, the limited spaces to expand and built new roads and means of public transportation and mismanaged pollution ranging from trash to smog. I still remember back when i was at the elementary school that we joked about floods the likes at major urbanized cities because such concepts never been (or wasnt that frequent) back then, but now its became somewhat of a normality The end of the day i would say that all of these is due years of mismanagement and the lacking sense of urgency. We should've done a lot more back then with all the money that we had got from tourism by investing on infrastructure and mitigation from overtourism. I didnt claimed to had the answer for all the problem but i think the government should start to brainstorm and work harder to repair the damage that already had been done (well at least the one that possible to be fixed), and mitigate future problem before it becomes more harder to dealt with I still had lots of comparison that i had experienced sinces my childhood but this comment were already too long so i leave at that

For those who don't like overcrowded, Indonesia offers a bunch of other beautiful places like Labuan Bajo, Manado/Bunaken,, Lombok/Nusa Tenggara/Komodo Island, Java (Ujung Kulon, West Java, Jogja and East Java), Medan/Lake Toba and Aceh, Makasar and Toraja, Borneo, Maluku Island and Banda Island, also Raja Ampat... So many undiscovered breathtaking places...

As an Indonesian, I have observed a gradual disillusionment with Bali due to the increasing number of tourists, resulting in a deterioration of mutual respect between visitors and locals. It is essential to uphold Indonesian cultural values, which prioritize respect over monetary interests. It is paramount for both tourists and locals to actively cultivate an environment of mutual respect and comprehension within Bali.

As a Thai person, we believe that Bali is the last stronghold of Old southeast Asians culture. The island and culture must be protected. Southeast Asians are kind and polite but don’t take our kindness for weakness. In Thailand, recently we have westerners attacking Thai nationals as well, it’s becoming a problem as well. This is unacceptable, you are a guest in our home, you should have respect for our culture and our people.

I was born in Bali, grew up in Bali, I considered myself a Balinese. I love my culture and respect the nature. Now, I'm worried they are slowly destroyed by tourism. It breaks my heart to see the over developed buildings/ hotel/ mall in Sanur, Canggu, Ubud. This is not a long term tourism. Tourists love nature not buildings. I cant imagine Bali in the next 20-30 years. If the government still ignorant and greedy and corrupted we need to say good bye to our innocent, peaceful Bali. Who knows what our children next have left to enjoy here. Nothing!

I've been living in bali since I was a kid. I have to say that this is the first time i see Those men from the task force in action. "Only" for the sake of camera. Bali is no longer a nice place to go unfortunately, we ruined the island with our non controled villas building and also bad trash processing.

I stayed in Bali for 6 months in 1968/9. There were about 30 backpackers at that time, staying in the Adi Asa guesthouse in Denpasar, plus some wealthier tourists at the Bali Beach Hotel in Sanur. But not very many. Kuta was a fishing village with no hotels at all. We’d go there on a day trip from Denpasar. I cycled around the island, having bought a bicycle, and also went around on Vespas. The backpackers were mostly pot smokers and we would sit around the guest house in a big circle sharing joints. Sometimes the chief of police would drop by, listen to the latest music cassettes which I had brought from Singapore, and he would also take a puff of the ganja. It was apparently, obviously, legal! I had a good camera and slide film and carefully took photos of the amazing sights. Some time later, while living in Japan, I managed to publish a book about Bali comprising 100+ photos and 15,000 words of text. It was a personal travelogue, published by Kodansha International, in English. 15,000 copies were printed. I have so many fond memories of Bali in its unspoilt state. I am sorry, but by publishing that book I must have contributed to Bali’s demise, in some way. Sorry, Bali 😢

Indonesia has 18,110 islands and they all go to Bali! Completely wasted by tourism! Time to put a quota on the numbers ==> I Hope that the Minister of Tourism (Menparekraf), Mr. Sandiaga Uno is watching docu also. Greetz from Batam Indonesia!

this is so deep and mindful, the balanced view of tourism at present. I am glad to be a part of this mindful documentary, thanks CNA to raise the awareness of tourism impact on Bali

Bali needs “Tourists Filter” policy

I visited Bali for one whole month in 1979 !! I cannot recogonize it from this video anymore. It was pure heaven

Bali should focused on "QUALITY TOURISM" rather than Quantity of Tourist, since many tourist ended become trouble maker, vandal, even some of them are literally criminal who rob locals. Look at Maldives, visitor are low but they get huge profit from tourism since they focused on luxury beachfront cottages and it's part of their Quality Tourism.

Respect where you are. Balinese are an exquisite people. Get out into the hills, meet the people of the villages. Your life forever changes when they welcome you because you show respect. We carry a bag for our own rubbish every day. Building more sustainable systems will be difficult but it can be done. Travel is a priveledge and we should never forget that.

Boy am I glad my son and I took numerous surf trips to Bali in the 1990's all the way from the Virgin Islands. We surfed Canguu numerous times and the only things there were a temple and one food vendor on the entire beach, with large rice paddies inland.Our last trip we saw the development getting crazy out by Uluwatu including the proposed huge Cliffside hotel. We would always go to Java to surf Gland which required a long ride through the countryside of Bali going through little towns and villages to reach the ferry to Java. I pray that the government starts protecting the environment and the tranquility that Bali offered.

For Filipinos, Bali is the best place to visit for relaxation and leisure but because a number of Westerners are mostly unruly, Filipino tourists are not unruly because Filipinos more friendly with Balinese than Westerners make it one of the most friendly in Bali Today, Bali has a most favorite place for Filipinos because they have direct flights from Manila to Denpasar by Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific I’m very sad to see the beautiful Bali filled with unruly tourists resulting on deportation so with Indonesia as my favorite country, I will visit Bali and hopefully, It will never happened again so I hope to see you soon in Bali 😊😊 Bali is my favorite place and Denpasar was one of them so I love Bali so much and I like to meet Puteri Indonesia Bali like Lakshmi Suardana, Nanda Widya Saraswati and Juliastrid Sari and I like to meet Balinese people as friends so I will waiting for you to visit the Island of the Gods 😊😊 Love from Calamba City, Laguna in the Philippines 🇵🇭💕🇮🇩

Tourism is heavenly bliss indeed, the freedom to travel and explore so many natural hidden beauties, for how devastating was the Covid pandemic disaster, this documentary is showing us once again, how people of Indonesia and Bali are so respectful and devoted to their land, the religious connection raise all of us stronger, living in symbiotic relationship with Mother Earth... everybody understands how precious might be. Tourists are wild, they love to break the rules and have no rules at all...on the other side of the world but then... nobody must allow the lack of respect for the ... Holy Creation, natural beauties or precious religious areas. Once again, loving our planet is crucial, no matter where , for which country. The last disasters raised us all stronger and better, we are global family by now, we are so tied to each other, we have to help each other like true siblings by now...lovely this video, only dreaming of traveling is already.. a big step forward 🎉❤🎉

Proud to bali but please we are not ready yet for overtourism, just spread out, indonesia is big and everyplace is beautiful and the people also very friendly

Great documentary. It's just missing ideas for what the conscious tourist can do in order to not be part of the problem.

Important things to improve: Garbage and Pollution management, Culture and Nature restoration, Public infrastructures, and Law-enforcement not only to visitors but local scammers too.