Tourist Favourite Beach Clubs In Bali Under Pressure To Promote Cultural Respect

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Bali’s beach clubs are some of the most popular entertainment venues on the island.

For many tourists, visiting one of Bali’s world-famous beach clubs is the highlight of a vacation, but for some local communities, ex-pats, and even returning tourists to Bali, some of the entertainment on offer at Bali’s beach clubs is at odds with local culture. 

The topic has hit the headlines after the world-famous Finns Beach Club in Canggu conducted a fireworks display last week while the local community was conducting a religious ceremony on the beachfront nearby.

The fireworks disturbed the ceremonial proceeds and sparked a huge backlash online. While Finns Beach Club has apologized and confirmed that they had sought permission to deliver a fireworks display, the local community has spoken to reporters about their upset at the situation.

Bali Police has explained that there was a miscommunication.

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Bali’s leading beach clubs including Finns are now under scrutiny from the public to do more to promote and embody cultural respect. Many feel that employing a large local staff is not going far enough in terms of supporting local communities. 

Following the fireworks incident last week, Deputy Chairman III of the Bali DPRD Komang Nova Sewi Putra, together with Chairman of Commission II Agung Bagus Pratiksa Linggih, spoke to reporters after conducting an inspection of the speaking club.

Purta explained, “We conducted a clarification regarding the viral video on social media showing a fireworks party and a Hindu ceremony in one frame. In this meeting, we involved the relevant agencies. We have checked all permits, including environmental permits, and also evaluated the club’s cooperation with the surrounding community.”

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In a statement, a representative for Finns Beach Club, Kadek Duarsa, clarified the situation and put the record straight following online speculation regarding the business.

Duarsa said, “We have no intention of doing the incident. We have apologized to the relevant agencies and will provide a press release to the media regarding the correct information regarding the number of foreign employees at Finns Beach Club. In fact, the number of foreign employees is only 20 people, not 300 people have stated.” 

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Senator Putra told reporters, “Finns Beach Club has shown good faith and apologized and is committed to improving relations with the local community. This is important because almost 70 percent of employees at Finns Beach Club are Balinese.” 

Purta also called for beach clubs and entertainment venues in Bali to do more to create harmony between tourist entertainment and local traditional values, noting, “We ask all beach clubs, not just Finns Beach Club, to prioritize not disturbing the interests of the Balinese people.”

Linggih called for tourists, developers, and investors to be mindful of supporting Balinese culture, too.

He explained, “Tourists who come to Bali look for local wisdom. Beach clubs must support tourism and respect existing customs and traditions.”

The concerns of the community now are that entertainment venues can apply for permits that allow them to conduct firework displays or extra loud events directly to the police and that these permits can be granted without consultation with the broader community. This means that these kinds of events could happen again in the future.

Acting in good faith that businesses will do the right thing by the Balinese community still leaves room for disrespectful actions to take place. 

Since the pandemic, Bali has been on a mission to promote more culturally respectful and sustainable tourism.

Culturally respectful tourism has been pursued to encourage tourists to visit more sites of cultural significance and connect with the island of Bali in meaningful ways.

It is also a focus point because leaders and many local communities want to see more Balinese values woven into tourism attractions that are focused on tourist entertainment too.