Tourism stakeholders are urging the local administration to restructure its tourist zones, especially in the crowded areas in southern Bali, in order to improve the business climate.
BALI – Tourism stakeholders are urging the local administration to restructure its tourist zones, especially in the crowded areas in southern Bali, in order to improve the business climate.
Alit Wiraputra, chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) for Badung regency, said that some tourism areas in south Bali, like Kuta, Legian, Seminyak, Nusa Dua and Petitenget, had become very crowded. Development in those areas was out of control, without good, well-structured planning.
“In Kuta, for example, there are too many budget hotels in one area, many of them have even been built without a license. This has caused an unhealthy business climate due to fierce competition, with promotions and tariffs that will tarnish the image of Bali.”
A lack of parking facilities was also a problem in Kuta and the surrounding areas, with a lot of side street parking that made the area more congested, he added. Those areas were basically villages with narrow streets, but had been turned into crowded tourist spots.
“The problem with traffic jams could discourage tourists from coming to Bali. Therefore, these areas need to be restructured,” he warned.
In the crowded areas of south Bali, there should not be any new tourist accommodation, he said. He also urged the Badung administration to review the existing accommodation facilities and to check whether they already had proper licenses. “If they have no license, close them down,” he said, adding that Kadin had discussed this issue with the regency administration in a recent meeting.
The development of new hotels and other types of accommodation should be moved to surrounding regencies, like Tabanan and Gianyar, to allow equal economic development, he suggested.
To ease traffic congestion, authorities could also rearrange the existing traffic routes and open alternative routes.
As the island’s hub of tourism, Kuta and the surrounding areas are crowded with cars and motorcycles used by both local people and tourists. Moreover, Bali is now seeing an average annual growth in vehicles on the road of 10 percent per year.
I Gusti Ngurah Rai Suryawijaya, chairman of the Badung chapter of the Indonesian Hotels and Restaurants Association, also urged the regency administration to find a solution to the traffic congestion in tourist areas.
“Streets can no longer accommodate the excessive growth in vehicles,” he said.
The excessive growth has been driven by, among other things, the ease of owning a vehicle facilitated by various financing schemes, as well as a relatively high consumer spending power in Bali.
The administration needed to regulate parking areas, since there were still many pedestrian lanes in tourist areas being used as parking zones, Suryawijaya said.
“The administration should also make a regulation to oblige hotels to have adequate parking facilities in balance with their number of rooms, so that the hotels do not cause traffic jams in their vicinity.”
(Source: Jakarta Post Bali Daily)
Tatiana is the news co-ordinator for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). Her role includes to monitor the hundrends of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skim the most important according to our strategy. She holds a Bachelor degree in Communication & Mass Media from Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens and she has been editor and editor-in-chief in various economic magazines and newspapers.
