The Impact of a ‘Less is More’ Approach to Tourism in Bali
It was Christmas Eve and we touched down in Bali’s Denpasar airport.
After grabbing a quick coffee in the arrivals hall, we steeled ourselves to face the humid heat and flag down a taxi.
Our driver, a young man named Wayan — the Balinese name for the first born son — asked us when we had last been in Bali. For me, it was about four years; for my husband, almost ten years.
Where I had spent my time battling the crowds in Kuta and Semenyak and feeling clueless about the reasons for Canggu’s popularity, my husband had spent some time in luxury resorts in Ubud. Needless to say, our experiences had been miles, and worlds, apart.
But during the flight in and the short taxi ride with Wayan we had already begun to notices the difference on the island since we had last been there.
Our discussion with Wayan covered a number of ways in which the island had changed — both the postive and negative. And as we crawled through the traffic in the seemingly never-ending city of Sanur, we asked Wayan whether he liked Bali better now or ten years ago.
He quickly responded ten years ago.
Specifically, he lamented the loss of the rice paddies, which he said were more numberous ten years ago, and complained that…
