Tourists Will Receive Hyper-Local Culinary Experiences At Bali Tourism Villages

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There is a wealth of cultural wonders to discover in Bali’s tourism villages.

As communities across the province come together to create new and improved tourism initiatives, culinary experiences are set to take center stage.

Tourists will soon be able to experience a wider array of local culinary adventures in Bali’s best tourist villages. 

One of Bali’s up-and-coming tourism villages, Serangan Village, close to the popular resort of Sanur, is working to create new tourism programs for visitors.

In Denpasar, there are just six tourist villages, of which Serangan Village is the second most established, following Sanur.

The five other attractions are Sanur Kauh Village, Sanur Kaja Village, which border the famous resort of Sanur, Kesiman Kertalangu Village, and Penatih Village.

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The Head of Serangan Tourism Village, Wayan Sutarja Putra, told reporters, “In addition to nature and attractions, tourist villages have unique culinary delights that can be managed and organized to strengthen the branding of tourist villages.”

Serangan Village is located on Serangan Island and is famous for its seafood. The quaint coastal community has long relied on the ocean for its livelihoods and is one of the most prominent fishing communities in the province.

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Moving forward, the community members involved in Serangan Tourism Village will be focusing on developing more culinary experiences for guests. Putra told reporters, “Foreign tourists and locals like the typical Serangan seafood cuisine. The real culinary specialties of each tourist village already exist.”

He added, “The hope is to strengthen the existence of tourist villages. As well as greater benefits to its residents. So it’s not just nature and attractions; culinary is also the strength of the tourist village.”

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At present, the most famous resort for seafood and coastal cuisines is Jimbaran, but as tourist seek more off-path and crowd-free travel destinations, communities like Serangan Village really come into their own.

Travelers only have to look at the successes of destinations like Penglipuran Village in Bangli Regency to see the wealth of opportunities these kinds of programs offer for meaningful cultural immersion. 

As mass tourism in Bali leans ever closer to the pitfalls of over-tourism, leaders, business owners, communities, and open-minded travelers are all working to establish better ways to promote and engage in culturally respectful and sustainable tourism experiences.

According to the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism, the development of more tourism villages is a highly impactful way of achieving this. 

Tourists can expect to see the promotion of more culinary tourism experiences in Bali and the promotion of more tourism village experiences overall as the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism looks to boost the country’s travel tourism destination index listing on the world’s rankings. 

Currently, Indonesia is ranked 22nd, according to the World Economic Forum. Indonesia has the potential to jump into the top fifteen in the next two years.

Deputy Minister Odo RM Manuhutu told reporters that “with the focus of all sectors to make improvements to reach the top fifteen rankings, we can be optimists because we have [growth] from the last four years, there is an understanding and uniformity in taking real steps and actions.”

In 2021, Indonesia was ranked in 32nd place globally. 

The Deputy for Strategic Policy at the Indonesian Tourism Ministry, Dessy Ruhati, explained that there is more work to be done across the country and across sectors to help boost Indonesia’s tourism index into the upper echelons.

Ruhati said, “The challenge is a cross-sector collaboration that needs to be carried out more optimally because this is not the main role of the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economies alone.”

For tourists seeking to explore tourism villages in Bali and across Indonesia, there is a dedicated platform where travellers can map out their adventures and plan their trips.

The Tourism Village Network, known in Indonesia as Jadesta, is a great resource for tourists who want to discover community-run tourism initiatives in Bali and around the archipelago.