Bali’s governor seems amped to announce that the resort island has set a target of 30 million tourists to be met by 2029, but not everyone is responding to this goal with fanfare.
The Golkar party in the Indonesian regional council (DPRD) is saying wait up, hold on a minute Bali, can you even handle those numbers?
The 30 million tourist target is touted as part of Bali’s Master Regional Tourism Development Plan (Riparda)from 2014 to 2029, but Golkar officials are asking Governor Made Mangku Pastika to anticipate the island’s carrying capacity before getting too gung ho about the 30 million goal.
“If it is associated with the power of Bali’s provincial capacity, which is very limited, then the target is very controversial,” said Golkar Party member Tjokorda Raka Kerthyasa, as quoted by Kompas on Wednesday.
By carrying capacity, Golkar is referring to the island’s infrastructure such as clean water capacity (God knows we’ve had so many issues with PDAM service and Aqua galons selling out), along with electricity (plenty of PLN power outages), and road quality.
If Bali wants to increase tourism traffic by that much, then the island should worry about the consequences of having that many guests, say Golkar party members.
“Singapore, which is way smaller than Bali, can attract 37 million tourists annually. If they can, why can’t we?,” said Pastika said on Wednesday, as quoted by the Jakarta Post.
Photo: AFP
