balinews Bali must put a cap on the number of tourists allowed to visit the island, a former minister of tourism has stated. “The island has limited natural resources, limited water resources, limited energy, which all translate into a limited carrying capacity, that’s why the island must enforce a limit on the number of tourists visiting the island,” said I Gede Ardika. Ardika, who is now a member of the World Committee on Tourism Ethics at the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), echoed the warnings issued in the late 1990s by many of the island’s critical thinkers. The island’s lucrative tourism sector was experiencing its golden era at that time and public officials publicly dreamed of luring millions more foreign visitors. Those thinkers stated that the mass-tourism approach would suck the island’s natural resources dry and the social and environmental costs such approach would inflict on the island and its people would dwarf the economic prosperity brought by tourism. The perspective was not popular at that time. It is still not popular today. The island now has around 60,000 hotel rooms and more than 10,000 rooms will be added by 2014. An increasing number of regencies are now considering tourism as the most viable method to boost income. In this climate, speaking about putting a cap on the number of tourists allowed to enter the island is tantamount to blasphemy. Bali tourism Minister: Bali must enforce a limit on the number of tourists - eTurboNews.com
Rangi balibule wroteA lot of talking but not much action if you ask me. On the contrary. I agree. I dont actually think its the worst idea. But doubt it would ever happen.
JohnnyCool What [I]The Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry[/I] [B]doesn't[/B] get is that the last thing Bali needs right now is even more interference from a bunch of whackos in Jakarta. Most of the major tourist areas are already creaking at the seams. Maybe some "un-development" would be a better idea in some places. The Batur area probably could do with some "sprucing-up" - like improved infrastructure and services for the people who actually live there (not potential tourists). Oh - I can see it coming now. A cable-car from Penelokan to the top of Mt Batur, with a revolving restaurant. House boats on the lake. Circle K's in Toyabungkah and Songan (maybe even in Trunyan). A shopping mall in Kedisan. Cable TV/internet to all the villages in the caldera. Sanur needs, IMHO, to back-off a little with so-called "development". Sure - fix the back roads/lanes, educate the locals about throwing and burning garbage, and stop the hundreds of kids riding motorbikes everywhere with impunity. With all due respect to IB Gede Sidharta Putra, I doubt that the "ministry" will provide any "assistance". Why can't (or won't) Sanur fix the problems it's facing on its own? And as for Menjangan Island...How about stopping dynamite fishing in the area? Lokot mistakenly asserts that "there is only one access road, the Denpasar-Gilimanuk route". There are several other ways to get there. For example: Denpasar-Singaraja (via Bedugul) Denpasar-Serririt (via Antasari-Pupuan) [QUOTE]“We choose to improve destinations that are already operating so that they can grow on the right track and serve as examples to be followed by others,”[/QUOTE] says Lokot. I would love to see examples of where the "ministry" has already achieved this. Which "blueprint" has it been using so far? Don't forget this same "ministry" is trying to "improve" the music industry in Indonesia by sending people to South Korea to learn about K-Pop. Get ready for some crummy I-Pop in the near future (15-20 years?). Or how about B-Pop? State-of-the-art recording and film studios in Batur, perhaps? The call to cap the number of tourists in Bali [B]does[/B] contradict what this "ministry" is proposing (as [B]SHoggard[/B] pointed out). As for [B]Markit[/B] - yep, Candi Dasa is definitely in the cross-hairs. It's like the right-hand don't know what the left-hand do. Now [B]that's[/B] Indonesia at present. There are even suggestions that Megawati (PDI-P) will join forces with Kalla (Golkar) in the next presidential elections. A-m-a-z-i-n-g.
