The tropical island of Bali has sun, sand and sea.
That’s why it’s become a tourism hotspot, drawing millions of visitors each year.
TripAdvisor consistently names Bali as one of the world’s favorite travel destinations.
And while Bali is just one of thousands of islands in Indonesia,
it gets the lion’s share of visitors to the country.
Last year, 14 million international tourists visited Indonesia.
Of that, 5.7 million, or about 40 percent, went to Bali.
Bali is enjoying a spike in popularity.
Since 2015, the number of tourists have grown by about 20 percent every year.
That’s much higher than Asia’s average yearly growth in tourism, which is at about six percent.
Indonesian authorities credit their visa-free policy.
Tourists from just 15 countries could visit Indonesia without a visa in 2015.
That number has grown to 169 countries today.
But Bali’s popularity has also seriously challenged its ability to keep up its image of paradise.
Locals are concerned that the island cannot support the growing tourist numbers
because tourism contributes to a worsening water and waste crisis.
The waste problem is getting serious.
Last year, Bali had to declare a garbage emergency on its coast
and deploy 700 cleaners to remove garbage from its shores.
Bali’s supply of water has also depleted rapidly and experts are calling it a water crisis.
That's mostly because of tourism, which is estimated to use 65 percent of the island’s water supply.
In fact, the average tourist is estimated to use four to five times more water than a local.
Bali elected a new administration last year, and its new governors
have been focused on protecting the island’s cultural heritage.
For the first time, Bali is considering banning visitors from entering its sacred Hindu temples, without a guide.
That announcement came after several incidents of disrespectful behavior by tourists in holy sites,
including posing in bikinis inside the temples and entering sacred areas.
I met up with Indonesia’s tourism minister Arief Yahya during his recent visit to Singapore,
to ask about the country’s plans to spread tourism into other parts on Indonesia.
We realize everybody in the world knows only Bali.
That’s why our president challenged me to create another 10 new Balis.
Mr. Arief is a former chief executive of Indonesia’s largest telecommunications company,
which is why he’s been focused on marketing Indonesia to millennials through digital platforms.
The ministry recently signed a deal with ride-hailing giant Grab
to put Indonesian tourism destinations on its platform.
But it’s not just Southeast Asians Mr. Arief is targeting.
For the first time last year, Chinese tourists outnumbered Australians
as the biggest group of visitors coming to Bali.
One in four of Bali’s foreign tourists came from China, an increase of about 50 percent in two years.
You can tell the island is catering to its new visitors,
with an increase in Chinese restaurants and Chinese-language signs.
But this new demographic has also sparked a debate over something known as zero-dollar tours,
which are all-inclusive packages sold at bargain prices.
Bali’s new administration has started to investigate them, looking into claims that
the money made on these tours isn’t making its way into the local economy.
There are also concerns about the safety of the Chinese visitors.
Mr. Arief says he finds zero-dollar tours troubling
because he believes tour operators aren’t properly licensed.
But he welcomes Chinese tourists themselves with open arms.
In terms of size, they’re the largest. In terms of growth, they’re the largest.
In terms of forex receipts, they’re the largest. So, the Chinese tourists are our preferred customers.
If there is some bad news for Chinese tourists I will say that the bad news is coming from our commentators.
Mr. Arief tells me tourism is on track to surpass
oil, gas and coal as the biggest contributor to Indonesia’s foreign exchange revenues next year.
Indonesia is targeting 20 million tourists by 2020, and Bali is likely to receive most of them.
With a new airport reportedly in the works and measures by locals and authorities
to deal with its challenges, Bali’s future as a tourist paradise looks optimistic.
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