DENPASAR – Over a six-week period this spring, the Indonesian non-governmental organisation Sungai Watch collected more than 40 tonnes of rubbish from Bali’s Jimbaran Bay – traditionally a bucket list paradise known for its grilled seafood restaurants, surf break and idyllic resorts.
Now, in this first full recovery year, Bali Tourism Board Chairman Ida Bagus Agung Partha Adnyana is aiming for 4.5 million international arrivals, a figure the island seems poised to exceed. So far, local leaders say, the amount of tourism business Bali is losing to its waste problem is impossible to quantify, which may be convenient, since the government has had a difficult time curbing the issue.
Sungai Watch is one of the most promising organisations taking on Bali’s waste issue; its teams pull some 6,600 pounds of plastic from Bali’s rivers, illegal landfills and barriers daily. “This is really just disaster relief for the next two, three years, going in and closing every open dump,” Mr Bencheghib says. The process involves a lot of physical effort by excavators and workers to not only collect and clean but also sort and recycle or reuse the refuse alongside simultaneous community outreach and education.
On Bali, six months could mean as much as a US$3.5 billion loss based on 2019’s tourism income, since even the once-slow rainy season is now about as busy as high season. One approach may be to take a page from Amsterdam, Hawaii or Venice – all destinations that are shifting tourism management strategies to a lower-density model that caters not to backpackers but to higher-paying travellers.