Bali Is Not Excess of Tourists
Ministry of Culture and Tourism (Kemenbudpar) denied if Bali as a tourist destination known tourist advantages such as Time magazine reported recently. “Bali excess tourist? No, it’s not true,” said Head of Resources Kemenbudpar of Culture and Tourism, I Gde Pitana, in Jakarta.
Pitana said the Bali extent of 56 thousand km and only get an average tourist arrivals of 2.5 million foreign tourists per year. When compared with other countries covering an area no bigger than Bali, the number of foreign tourist arrivals was actually small. “Compared to Andorra a small country in Europe with a population of 84,000 inhabitants, very few tourists to Bali. Andorra visited by 8 million tourists per year,” said Pitana.
He also pointed out that the extent of Singapore’s only about 1 / 7 island of Bali with a population of about 4.3 million people even receive an average of 11 million tourists per year. “So, rather than the number of tourists is too many but the lack of supporting infrastructure and the distribution of tourists is not good,” he said.
To overcome the problem of distribution and infrastructure, the Kemenbudpar initiated and planned the construction of public facilities which the new airport in North Bali by cooperating with foreign investors. According Pitana, one of the keys to build a better Bali tourism is to build the airport in North Bali for equalization and distribution of tourists going to stimulate the development of tourism supporting infrastructure. “Development of airports in North Bali are now entering the phase of the survey with a towed investors from India,” he said.
Recently, Time magazine through writing an article on Andrew Marshall released titled Bali Holidays in Hell. Pitana argues that the writing contained some correct but his conclusion is wrong. “Bali is not hell, Bali is still a paradise for tourists the world,” he said. Marshall wrote that South Bali already overcrowded with Kuta Beach which has been polluted waste, lack of supporting infrastructure, the number of private cars rose, and widespread criminality occurred. According Pitana, the author only see as representations of Kuta Bali when Bali is not just Kuta. “Not balanced, not only see the negative side to see the positive side,” he said. Pitana added, the article is more opinion than data. “The level of pollution and crime, for example, should be compared with other destinations in the world,” said Pitana.
