Australians make up a large portion of the tourists that visit Bali each year, with close to a million Australians traveling there in 2013. However, mass tourism has created many issues for Bali, as the large influx of visitors places strain on the island's limited natural resources like water. It has also negatively impacted local communities and pushed out agricultural industries. While tourism provides economic benefits, the cultural and social impacts on Balinese society challenge whether tourism in its current form can be sustained long-term.

1. Who invited you to
Bali?

2. This summer, many of us are heading overseas.
Australians are the world’s largest spenders on
international travel on a per capita basis. In 2012, one in
three of us headed overseas.

3. After New Zealand, the most popular destination is Indonesia, or rather
Bali. Close to a million Australians will visit Indonesia this year, many in
the summer holiday peak. They form the largest single group of overseas
tourists to Bali, accounting for around 25% of foreign arrivals.
Is tourism creating a problem?
Bali is a relatively small island, but it is densely populated –
especially as domestic migrants come from across
Indonesia to work in the booming tourist economy. Yet the
domestic population is dwarfed by the influx of tourists. It is
expected that 2013 will be a record year for tourist arrivals,
with roughly 4m foreign arrivals and over 3m domestic
tourists.

4. Although Balinese society and culture has proven resilient in the face of
the tourist onslaught, signs of tension are increasing. As hosts, locals
don’t want to offend their guests; nor do they want to risk alienating them
for fear they will take their tourist dollars elsewhere. Yet the
environmental, social and cultural impacts of tourism are being felt across
the island.
Not enough resources to go around
The tourism industry places an incalculable strain on natural
resources, particularly water. Bali is running out of it. The
NGO Tourism Concern estimates that tourists in resorts
such as Bali, Zanzibar and Goa use water at a rate 15 times
higher than locals.

5. Resorts’ lush landscaping, spacious swimming pools and emerald golf
courses consume water by the megalitre; even the smallest indulgence
can have a massive impact when multiplied by millions. Tourists are
responsible for 65% of Bali’s total water consumption.
Local farmers bear the brunt of the water deficit, and the rice farming that
was once the island’s economic backbone is fast becoming untenable.
Farmers are also being pushed off the land by skyrocketing property
values. Previously quiet parts of the island, such as the villages
surrounding Ubud and the inland lakes, are now being developed for
tourism.

6. Government officials estimate that agricultural land is being
lost at the rate of 1,000 hectares per year, and this has been
going on for at least two decades. Electricity is also at a
premium. All those TV screens and fridges it takes to keep
the Bintang ice-cold churn through the power.
Bali has a severe electricity deficit that keeps more than 30%
of the island off the grid – a situation that has led the
provincial government to take out a US$224m loan from the
Asian Development Bank in an attempt to improve locals’
access to electricity.

7. Affording the costs
Indonesia is a developing nation, which must take out loans to bring its
infrastructure to the standard demanded by First World tourists. Gross
National Income per capita is just aboveUS$4,100 per annum, and by
some estimates, more than half the population lives on less than $2 per
day.
Although Bali is among the wealthiest provinces in Indonesia, this is a
relative measure only. Last month, the provincial government raised
Bali’s minimum wage to Rp. 1,321,000, or approximately US$116 per
month – less than a tourist can expect to pay for a single night at many of
the hotels that hug the island’s coastline. Attempts have been made to
cover the gap through additional fees and levies, including Bali’s recentlyproposed US$10 “heritage protection fee”.

8. Cultural differences
A surf board lender waits for customers at Kuta beach.
A surf board lender waits for customers at Kuta beach. Photograph:
Dimas Ardian/Getty Images
But economic inequality is only the tip of the iceberg. For decades,
Balinese and Indonesians have expressed concern about the cultural
degradation brought about by mass tourism.
They have been particularly affronted by the complete disregard for local
mores displayed by those tourists who come to Bali to party. They have
complained about the nightclubs, the alcohol and the drugs, and have
lamented the sordid results – drunks weaving through late-night traffic,
couples having sex on the beaches, and alcohol-fuelled violence breaking
out in clubs and on the streets.

9. Add to this the annual influx of schoolies, when tens of
thousands of Australian youth descend on the island with
the express intent to get drunk and disorderly. This apparent
contempt for local mores troubles many Balinese. Many
prefer to steer clear of Kuta altogether, referring to it with
characteristic wordplay as Kota Untuk Turis Australia – the
town for Australian tourists.
This is telling. Tourism academics have noted that the
inequalities of contemporary tourism can replicate those of
colonialism. The Balinese were never consulted when
theDutch colonial administration began to promote the
island as a relaxing retreat, and these patterns of the tourist
industry are still evident today.

10. So what can we do?
Despite the tragic bombings of 2002 and 2005, Australians’ enthusiasm for
partying in Bali has actually risen thanks to the aggressive discounting
implemented after the terrorist attacks and the rise of budget airlines. But
the real cost of tourism is far higher than what we pay for flights,
accommodation and food, and the deficit is often borne by host economies
and local communities.
We should remember that nobody invited us to Bali. Tourists are often a
burden on host communities; showing our appreciation and respect for the
local environment, society and culture might be a first step towards
recompensing them for our imposition.
• This piece was originally published by The Conversation, part of the
Guardian Comment Network