Bali To Promote Less Crowded Destinations To International Tourists

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Bali is on the brink of experiencing over tourism in its top resort areas since so much of the island’s tourism industry concentrated in the central south.

Leaders are talking about ways in which less visited and therefore less crowded destinations can be promoted to international tourists to help mitigate the risks of overtourism.

The consensus is mixed over whether Bali has officially entered its overtourism era. Some top academics say that the island is firmly in a state of overtourism, while most ministers feel that the island is approaching over-tourism but is not fully in the red zone.

Some top attractions have already started to mitigate the risks of over-tourism, like the world-famous Penglipuran Village in Bangli Regency.

The Indonesian Tourism Minister himself, Sandiaga Uno, confirmed in August 2024 that the province would start taking steps to avoid the negative impacts of overtourism on local communities, the land, and, of course, travelers and tourists too.

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Many tourism experts feel that the island is not at risk of experiencing overtourism as an island-wide issue but in specific locations.

With much of the tourism industry concentrated in Badung Regency, which spans much of the central south of the island, fast-growing resorts like Canggu and Uluwatu are most at risk of succumbing to the negative consequences of overdevelopment in the tourism sector.

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One of the most impactful ways to mitigate these risks is to help encourage tourists to explore less visited, less crowded, and less intensively developed destinations around the island.

It is clear that Bali’s leaders want to see the tourism sector grow, but they also want to see development implemented more sustainably.

This means that international tourists could be encouraged to visit destinations spread in the north, west and east of the island.

Destinations like Amed, Lovina, and West Bali National Park could soon become the most trending destinations on the island. 

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The Deputy for Marketing at the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, Ni Made Ayu Marthini, spoke to reporters about promoting lesser visited areas to tourists as a method of mitigating the risk of overtourism on the island.

Speaking from Sayan Village just outside of Ubud, Marthini explained that Bali needs to see a redistribution of tourism across the island. 

Marthini said, “Is Bali [experiencing] overtourism? Actually, if you look closely, what happened was that tourists piled up in one place. These tourists are not distributed well.”

She reiterated that the Ministry of Tourism is committed to promoting destinations in the west, north, and east of the island to help ensure tourists are inspired to visit destinations away from the highly concentrated resorts of the south.

She added “I use the example of Austria, which has a population of 9 million people. But, there are 30 million tourists, how is that possible? Yes, its because of governance [they focus on] where investment should be, and also management of tourism products and activities.”

As a Balinese woman, Marthini said she wants to see more “deep and meaningful” tourism experiences developed across the islands.

She feels that this, too, will help mitigate the risk of overtourism, as deep and meaningful tourism experiences are inherently more localised, involve smaller groups of people, and are rooted in the local culture. 

Marthini added that the tourism of the future will look very different “It will no longer be tourism with large crowded groups but the experience that is sought. If you go to Ubud, for example, you want to go on a trip to the rice fields, take part in cooking in people’s homes.”

Culturally respectful and sustainable tourism is what local leaders in Bali, policymakers at the central government, and local communities want to see more of across the island.

In the last month community leaders who operate homestays and community-based tourism initiatives like village tours and ‘a day in the life’ type experiences have spoken to reporters about their programs.

Tourists planning trips to Bali can expect to see more of these kinds of experiences promoted in destinations a little off the beaten track in the coming months and years.