balinews
[I]The number of foreign tourists visiting Bali may have increased over the past decade, but the time and money spent by each visitor is falling.Tourism Board chairman Ida Bagus Ngurah Wijaya said stingy tourists are overcrowding Bali, and residents who rely on tourism for their livelihoods are not reaping the benefits."It's ironic. We want people to come but when they come we have serious problems of traffic and waste. The island becomes dirty," he said.According to the Bali Statistics Agency, 2.8 million foreign tourists visited the island last year, up from 2.6 million in 2010.[B]However, their average length of stay has fallen from a week to three or four days, while daily spending has decreased from $300 ten years ago to $100, Ngurah said.[/B]Bali has begun to lose its cultural charm and exclusivity due to the crowded conditions, he said, driving away "quality tourists" like those from Europe.Observers have noted that the island is facing new challenges in the form of water shortages, crime, pollution and outbreaks of rabies and Legionnaires' disease."People continue to construct hotels and buildings without Balinese character," Ngurah said.[/I][url=http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/stingy-tourists-spending-less-time-and-money-in-bali/513848]Stingy Tourists Spending Less Time and Money in Bali | The Jakarta Globe[/url]
mrsgabry
This is very true. Disposal and burning of rubbish everywhere. Traffic on the bypass is awful at any time of the day. Beaches are destroyed by huge constructions of new hotels. Examples of this are Dreamland Beach and now also Geger Beach in Nusa Dua. Gabry
no.idea
Maybe the local people should look at what they are offering to attract the tourist dollar. Many tourists are repeat visitors. They have already purchased all the useless items that we buy on our first few visits. The guys who sit in the edge of the streets offering "transpot, transpot" really have to move with the times and change their business ideas.The illegal money changers should be shut down.There is no value in just blaming the "stingy tourists". The tourist authorities need to look at why here is a downturn in spending.
pollyanna
no.idea, you always offer food for thought, often things I haven't previously considered but I would think that one of the main reasons the quality of tourist is deteriorating so badly is a result of the very cheap flights from Australia. When the Aussie tourist is considering where to go the first considerations are the "transpot" cost and the cost of accommodation. If a 5-star resort area starts offering cheap-as-chips flights and accommodation the tourists with little money will flock in no matter what the shops are offering.
spicyayam
Does anyone how they calculate this daily spending figure? I find it hard to believe that people 10 years ago were spending $300 a day.
balibule
I think the USD 300 a day includes charges for hotel?
hanzrobby
it would have to be or maybe all the tours and things. i guess if people go for 5 days then $300 a day isn't a lot but you go for a couple of weeks - a month that's a lot of money.I agree with no.idea, we have been to bali heaps and after a while we have bought all the novelty's cheap clothes we never wear again. lol we now spend more on different resturants and things.Still manage to go through a couple of hundred aus a day (think that is more the bintang the husband consumes hehehe)
balibule
it would have to be or maybe all the tours and things. i guess if people go for 5 days then $300 a day isn't a lot but you go for a couple of weeks - a month that's a lot of money.I agree with no.idea, we have been to bali heaps and after a while we have bought all the novelty's cheap clothes we never wear again. lol we now spend more on different resturants and things.Still manage to go through a couple of hundred aus a day (think that is more the bintang the husband consumes hehehe)[/QUOTE]Well, according to what you write, the shorter the stay the higher the average daily spending to which I agree. However, in the article it says that the average stay and the average spending have both decreased. I would think that Bali is getting more domestic visitors who are on a lower budget in regards to accommodation, f&b and activities.
kiwi
I hadn't stayed in Legion for a couple of years and was quite surprised (not in a good way) at the class of people who were there just a couple of weeks back. They were older Australians who had no respect for the people or the country. They would live in areas considered not to have a good income in Australia and were drinking and abusing the locals like they do back home. It looked like they had enough money only to buy a Bingtang shinglet and half the time it was tucked into the back of thier shorts as they stumbled along the road drinking (it was not the young backpackers) and not the guys women also. These people would not go on tours or pay to see village life and they seemed to be the greater portion of the tourists in that area.There is a lot of people who go yearly and you can only buy so much of the same s--t ech time, I have to agree with No Idea as I am sure half the stuff at the markets was hanging there two years ago. I think "same same but different" needs to become different to encourage more spending.
widder
unless the infrastructure gets upgraded with some of the revenue generated by tourism, Bali is doomed. The mountains of stinking rubbish everywhere are not only an attack on the senses, but are also a serious health problem. It's absolutely disgusting!Traffic is so bad that some visitors don't venture out of their resorts - cancelling bookings made for other parts of the island! The morons who run the various tourism bodies, not only on Bali, but in Indonesia in general, only talk about arrival numbers, instead of also an exit survey, trying to find out how many of these visitors would actually consider coming back, or maybe even more important, how many would recommend Bali as a holiday destination to their family and friends. How about offering a decent holiday experience for those visitors who do come here, starting with immigration, porters who hog trolleys so there are none available for arriving passengers who don't want to use a porter, the charging of higher taxi fares than published at the taxi counter, etc.Sybille
balibule
It looked like they had enough money only to buy a Bingtang shinglet and half the time it was tucked into the back of thier shorts as they stumbled along the road drinking (it was not the young backpackers) and not the guys women also. These people would not go on tours or pay to see village life and they seemed to be the greater portion of the tourists in that area.[/QUOTE]It would be nice if they actually wear a t-shirt at least on the streets, malls, restaurants or bars.
SHoggard
no-idea's right on all points I guess that's the curse of success in the mass tourism market.In another thread someone mentioned the Legian/Kuta was getting like the Spanish Costa Del Sol:- Cheap airfares in the early '70s transformed a nice quiet beachfront in Spain into a concrete jungle complete with expat owned English Pubs and fish'n'chip shops ('cos we ain't eatin' that foreign muck').In Legian it's Ausie pubs with local bands shouting "Ozzie ozzie ozie" whenever they feel the party's sagging a bit.What to do? As a poverty-based economy the $300/day looked pretty attractive so lets double, triple the volume.We can't blame the tourist authorities for the 'class' of tourist, or the Banjar for poor waste management - they don't have the training.We can only lament
SHoggard
[b]Need Garbage pics - please[/b]Hi - We're co-hosting an industry conference in Sanur (23-25 May) on 'Green Packaging" mainly attended by industry AND the public sector, there will be a Gov't speaker talking about Waste Management, Paola from EcoBali will also be speaking (I believe).[url=http://packwebasia.com/index.php/packaging-events/viewevent/61-green-packaging-in-indonesia-seminar]Green Packaging in Indonesia: Seminar[/url]As keynote speaker I'll be laying the foundation on "shared responsibility" through the supply chain (in a nutshell):-[LIST][*]Packaging = Preserves food but generates waste -> responsibility: reduce packaging material, make it Reusable, Recyclable or Compostable[*]Consumer = Sort waste into recoverable waste 'types' (don't burn it) Paper Glass Plastic & Organics, compost organic waste if in rural area[*]Municipality = Collect separate waste streams regularly & dispose of it 'properly' (Paper Glass Plastic = recyclates) Organics = industrial compost (generates methane gas = power generation & residue is good organic fertiliser)[*]Recycle Industry(??) = Process & recover Paper Glass Plastic to be re-used.[/LIST]Well, that's the basics anyway. I'm sure there are lots of Balipodders who'd debate the above, or who'd argue that 'it'll never happen in Bali" - but that's Ok, probably a different thread.Here's the point of this post:I'd like to illustrate the talk with images of the WORST (I have some pics, but need more)I'd appreciate it if Balipodders could let me know if they have pics of the WORST examples of garbage misuse:- rubbish dumps near homes, water sources... antisocial rubbish burning .... rubbish in the ocean & river mouths.... etcI'd say post here, but the permitted image size is really smallPM me & we can work it out.I'm also going to open another thread just for this
Tamispecial
I totally agree with all the above, especially the increase in arrivals.....it is true nothing is reported about the huge amount that will never return because of what has happened to Bali. I know of many long time visitors who have vowed never to return to Bali and will instead go somewhere else,, which is their own choice of course. sad to say but any restuarant or (aussie owned and operated") establishment that has boards advertising F****** good tucker mate...and "Bloody cold P***" is enough to put anyone off from ever wanting to go there. With the ever increasing hotels being built soon it will be Bali-De Sol.....
hmbphd
In the last six weeks to two months I've seen a dramatic increase in the aggressiveness of vendors both on Legian and on the beach. I'm sure this has a lot to due with how SLOW this rainy season has been and how competitive it is to make even the smallest money... What has bothered me lately, though, is the number of male vendors on Legian who have actually grabbed me by the shoulder or arm to "steer" me into their stores. "Shopping, Darling?" Um, no - I'm just trying to walk down the street.I live in Kuta and know that some aggressiveness is to be expected, especially in a down economy. But this is NOT the Indonesian hospitality that got me to move here. Most Indonesians are polite to a fault; to have men physically touching female tourists is just NOT okay - they would not dare to touch female Indonesian strangers in this manner.I hope as tourism picks up this summer, or as more people like me tell these vendors, "It's NOT okay to touch me" this behavior will change. If not, I think more and more people will just avoid the hassles of Legian and the Poppies altogether, which will definitely NOT help the local economy.
ronb
Ida Bagus Ngurah Wijaya has a strange view of the world. He thinks tourists who only spend Rp1,000,000 per day or less are "stingy". I think they are just a bit more savvy than their aunts and uncles who he claims were spending Rp3,000,000 per day 10 years ago. He uses the term "quality tourists" for those who spend big - implying that those who are careful with their money are "low quality". I think the Tourism Board needs a Chariman who does not insult the majority of tourists.
balibule
Bali is bursting at it's seams and has more visitors than it can take (at least in the South and Ubud). I think Bali should go for quality rather than quantity. So why not concentrate on the ones that spend more?
sakumabali
I think Bali should go for quality rather than quantity. So why not concentrate on the ones that spend more?[/QUOTE]That will be very difficult in my opinion Balibule, they're building hotels with MANY rooms everywhere. SOMEBODY has to sleep there. So the hotel owners will think "better rent it cheaper to make a little profit than no profit at all", same the airlines...it's like you want to stop smoking but the daily routine makes it soo difficult. Than you get a tough bronchitis, don't smoke for a week and now you've a chance to quit. What I mean with this (silly) example: it has to get worse because it could getting any better. There are quite a couple of things going on which could kill the tourism in Bali in the next years: The Icon Bali starting to disappears, BAD infrastructure, Pollution, bad management everywhere, overpopulation, weird legal system for nonindonesians (just the illegal nominee structure could hit Bali like a bomb), Islamization vs. growing desire of a Balinese Independance (raising prices, sell-out...explain a young father that he has no chance of owning a house in Bali's south cause he could never afford it, this will lead to extreme anger & hate in the next 10 years, there are MANY young people out there)....
hermit
Bali came about due to surfing, but the avarice of your souls will spell its demise.[/QUOTE]Maybe so from a surfers point of view.But honestly,most of the formerly attractive points of Bali have nothing to do with surfing.It might be a surprise for you,but the world is not turning around surfing.It turns around the sun.
begonia
they're building hotels with MANY rooms everywhere. SOMEBODY has to sleep there. So the hotel owners will think "better rent it cheaper to make a little profit than no profit at all"[/QUOTE]I rather to see building small hotels than to see building villas everywhere taking all the ricefieldsI rather people pay "normal" prices and has money to spend in a lot more things on the island than people paying 200-300$ per a night for staying in a Luxury Villa (aduhhhhhhhh I really hate these words these days!!!!!!) and dont go out of the villa.
