Koster Admits That There Has Been An Exploitation of Bali’s Nature And Culture For The Sake of Tourism

DENPASAR – baliprawara.com

Bali tourism looks very sparkling and luxurious, but in fact it is a pseudo thing, even very fragile. Bali tourism has shifted from its characters. It does not provide an optimal role for the development of Balinese society as a local player and ultimately it does not provide optimal benefits to improve the welfare of the Balinese people. That was the statement of the Bali Governor Wayan Koster in the final opinion of the regional head on five draft local regulations, one of which was the Draft Local Regulation on the Standards and Implementation of Bali Cultural Tourism, which was delivered during the plenary meeting of the Bali House of Representatives on Thursday (May 14).

Koster said, the tourism sector is still a mainstay that supports the Balinese and national economy as the largest foreign exchange earner in Indonesia. However, the dynamics of Bali’s rapid development of tourism without control have been proven to have a negative impact on the decline in the quality of nature, people and culture of Bali.

He acknowledged that there has been an exploitation of nature and culture of Bali for the sake of tourism. “There has been an uncontrolled exploitation of land, rampant violations of rules, the emergence of increasingly unhealthy tourism service business practices, ignoring the local interests of the community, increasingly leaving the cultural life order and local wisdom of the Balinese people. Even without realizing it, there has been an increasingly strong domination of external parties supported by developments in system, information and technology that are increasingly detrimental to Bali’s domestic interests, “he stressed.

For this, Koster stressed that this bad condition cannot be allowed to continue continuously, because it will threaten Bali’s position and the interests of future generations. “Therefore, it is very urgent, the implementation of Bali tourism must be arranged fundamentally and comprehensively in accordance with the Bali Regional Development Vision “Nangun Sat Kerthi Loka Bali” through the Pattern of Universe Development Planning towards a New Era of Bali. In the context of implementing this vision, regional regulations are needed to organize Bali’s tourism in the New Era, which must be ensouled with traditional values, traditions and culture that are sourced from Sad Kerthi’s local wisdom values,” he said.

In addition, Bali tourism must also be filled with new dimensions of tourism, namely the development of digital tourism, in line with advances in information and communication technology and implementing new tourism protocols to improve the competitiveness of Bali’s tourism in the face of local, national and global dynamics.
(MBP2)