Bali

The tourist business is mostly concentrated in the south, although it is also substantial in other sections of the island. The main tourist destinations are Kuta (with its beach) and its outer suburbs Legian and Seminyak (which were once independent townships), the east coast town of Sanur (once the only tourist hub), Ubud in the center of the island to the south of the Ngurah Rai International Airport, Jimbaran, and the newer development of Nusa Dua and Pecatu.

In 2008, the US government dropped its travel advisories. On Friday, May 4, 2012, the Australian government issued an advisory. The general level of recommendation was reduced to ‘Exercise extreme care.’ On Sunday, June 10, 2012, the Swedish government issued a fresh warning in response to the death of another tourist as a result of methanol poisoning. Due to fresh terrorism concerns, Australia last issued an advisory on Monday, 5 January 2015.

The rising real estate business is an outgrowth of tourism. In the key tourist destinations of Kuta, Legian, Seminyak, and Oberoi, real estate in Bali has been fast growing. Recently, high-end 5-star developments have been built on the Bukit peninsula on the island’s south side. Million dollar homes with magnificent ocean views are being built along the cliff cliffs of south Bali. Foreign and local (many Jakarta people and businesses are highly active) investment into other sections of the island is also increasing. Despite the global economic crisis, land prices have remained constant.

In the second half of 2008, the Indonesian rupiah fell by nearly 30% against the US dollar, giving many foreign tourists good value for their money. The global economic crisis, which has also impacted the global tourism sector, was expected to reduce visitor numbers by 8% in 2009 (which would be higher than 2007 levels), although not owing to any travel advisories.

Bali’s tourist business survived the terrorist bombs of 2002 and 2005, and the industry has steadily rebuilt and exceeded pre-bombing levels; the long-term trend has been a steady growth in visitor numbers. Bali welcomed 2.57 million international tourists in 2010, above the aim of 2.0–2.3 million visitors. The average occupancy of starred hotels reached 65 percent, indicating that the island can still accommodate guests for many years without the installation of additional rooms/hotels, even though some of them are completely occupied during peak season.

According to a 2011 BBC Travel article, Bali is one of the World’s Best Islands, placing second only to Santorini, Greece.

The film Eat Pray Love was released in theaters in August 2010. Elizabeth Gilbert’s best-selling novel Eat, Pray, Love served as the inspiration for the film. It took place at Ubud and Padang-Padang Beach on the island of Bali. The 2006 book, which spent 57 weeks at the top of the New York Times nonfiction paperback best-seller list, had already fueled a boom in Eat, Pray, Love-related tourism in Ubud, the hill town and cultural and tourist center that was the focus of Gilbert’s quest for balance through traditional spirituality and healing that leads to love.

Following the death of music legend David Bowie in January 2016, it was reported that in his will, Bowie requested that his ashes be dispersed in Bali in accordance with Buddhist rites. Early in his career, he toured and performed in a number of Southeast Asian cities, including Bangkok and Singapore.

Since 2011, China has surpassed Japan as the second-largest source of visitors to Bali, with Australia remaining at the top of the list. Due to the influence of ACFTA and new direct flights to Bali, Chinese visitors climbed by 17% over the previous year. Chinese visitors grew by 222.18 percent year on year (yoy) in January 2012 compared to January 2011, while Japanese tourists decreased by 23.54 percent yoy.

In 2012, Bali recorded 2.88 million international visitors and 5 million local tourists, slightly exceeding forecasts of 2.8 million foreign tourists. The forecast for 2013 is 3.1 million.

According to a Bank Indonesia poll conducted in May 2013, 34.39 percent of visitors are upper-middle class, with expenditure ranging from $1,286 to $5,592, and are dominated by Australia, France, China, Germany, and the United States, with some China tourists shifting from low to higher spending. While 30.26 percent of the population is middle-class, paying between $662 and $1,285.

SEX TOURISM

During the age of mass tourism in Indonesia in the twentieth century, the frequency of sex tourism was routinely noticed. Prostitution is practiced by both men and women in Bali. Bali, in particular, is well-known for its ‘Kuta Cowboys,’ native gigolos who prey on foreign female visitors.

Every year, tens of thousands of single women go to the beaches of Bali, Indonesia. For decades, young Balinese men have taken advantage of the raucous and laid-back attitude to find love and lucre from female tourists—mostly Japanese, European, and Australians—who seem to be completely content with the arrangement.

By 2013, Indonesia was apparently the top destination for Australian child sex tourists, with the majority of them beginning in Bali and traveling to other regions of the country. Luh Ketut Suryani, head of Psychiatry at Udayana University, raised the issue in Bali as early as 2003. Surayani stated that due to a lack of understanding about paedophilia in Bali, the island has become a target for worldwide paedophile organizations. On February 19, 2013, government authorities in Bali announced efforts to eradicate paedophilia.

TOURISM INFORMATION CENTRES

• 166 from a landline in Bali only. From a mobile in Bali 0361 166.
• Bali Tourism Board: Jl Raya Puputan No41, Denpasar.  +62 361 235 600, (fax: +62 361 239200).

Some of Bali’s main tourist attractions have their own tourism offices; contact information is provided in the appropriate destination pages.

Bali has a reasonably consistent climate all year due to its location barely 8 degrees south of the equator. The average year-round temperature is roughly 30 °C, with an approximate humidity level of 85 percent.

Daytime temperatures at low levels range from 20 to 330 degrees Celsius (68 to 910 degrees Fahrenheit), while they may be considerably lower in the mountains. The west monsoon is present from around October to April, and it may produce heavy rain, especially from December to March. Outside of the monsoon season, humidity is low and rain is rare in low-lying locations.

Bali is located 3.2 kilometers (2 miles) east of Java and around 8 degrees south of the equator. The Bali Strait separates Bali and Java. The island is about 153 km (95 mi) broad east to west and 112 km (69 mi) wide north to south; officially, it encompasses 5,780 km2, or 5,577 km2 excluding Nusa Penida District, and its population density is around 750 people/km2.

Several summits in Bali’s central highlands rise beyond 3,000 meters (9,800 ft). Mount Agung (3,031 m (9,944 ft)), often known as the “mother mountain,” is an active volcano that has been identified as one of the world’s most probable places for a large eruption within the next 100 years. Mount Agung is the easternmost mountain, stretching from the center to the east. The volcanic nature of Bali has contributed to its outstanding fertility, and its lofty mountain ranges supply the considerable rainfall that sustains the very productive agricultural industry. The majority of Bali’s vast rice harvest is farmed south of the highlands in a wide, constantly dropping region. The northern side of the mountains drops more steeply to the sea and is the island’s primary coffee growing region, as well as grains, vegetables, and livestock. The longest river, the Ayung River, runs for around 75 kilometers.

The coral reefs around the island. Beaches in the south often have white sand, whilst beaches in the north and west typically have black sand. Although the Ho River is passable by tiny sampan boats, Bali has no significant rivers. The black sand beaches between Pasut and Klatingdukuh are being developed for tourism, although apart from the coastal temple of Tanah Lot, they are not yet widely utilised.

Denpasar, the province capital on the southern coast, is the major city. It has a population of around 491,500 people (2002). The former colonial capital of Bali, Singaraja, is situated on the north coast and has a population of roughly 100,000 people. Other notable cities include Kuta, a beach resort that is essentially part of Denpasar’s metropolitan area, and Ubud, the island’s cultural center, which is located to the north of Denpasar.

Three tiny islands lie immediately to the south-east, all of which are officially part of Bali’s Klungkung regency: Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nusa Ceningan. The Badung Strait separates these islands from Bali.

The Lombok Strait, which divides Bali and Lombok to the east, defines the biogeographical divide between the fauna of the Indomalayan ecozone and the substantially different fauna of Australasia. The Wallace Line is named after Alfred Russel Wallace, who was the first to suggest a transition zone between these two primary biomes. When sea levels fell during the Pleistocene ice age, Bali was linked to Java and Sumatra, as well as the Asian mainland, and shared Asian fauna, while the deep water of the Lombok Strait kept Lombok Island and the Lesser Sunda archipelago isolated.

In terms of productivity and employment, the Balinese economy was mostly centered on agriculture three decades ago. As a consequence of tourism being the greatest single business in terms of revenue, Bali has become one of Indonesia’s richest areas. In 2003, tourism accounted for almost 80% of Bali’s GDP. By the end of June 2011, the total non-performing loan of all banks in Bali was 2.23 percent, which was lower than the average non-performing loan of the Indonesian banking sector (about 5 percent ). The economy, on the other hand, suffered greatly as a consequence of the terrorist attacks in 2002 and 2005. Following these incidents, the tourist sector has rebounded.

Unfortunately, it is quite uncommon that you will come across a functional public telephone on the street, which may be extremely annoying in an emergency. Depending on your situation, you may have to depend on mobile phones (local SIM cards may be used in unlocked phones for low-cost local and international calling) or phone/internet businesses. Guests at low-cost accommodations are unlikely to have access to telephones. Private rental phone booths (sometimes in conjunction with internet rental) are accessible virtually everywhere in Bali, mostly in Kuta and Legian, although their availability is diminishing due to the low cost of mobile phones, which can be obtained for less than $17 apiece. The lowest cost is calling to the same operator, even internationally, using an internet phone with the 5 digit prefix 0xxxx, such as Three/Hutchison, or using Smartfren to call to Australia, however the operators’ coverage may be limited to Kuta, Legian, and Denpasar. Telkomsel has the greatest coverage in Bali. For those who do not want to leave Kuta and Legian, there are Biznet WiFi up to 100Mbps that can be readily accessed from any mobile device equipped with WiFi. The coupon may be purchased at Alfamart for Rp 10,000 for 500MB for 10 days or Rp 30,000 for 2GB for 30 days. A single coupon may be used in two devices at the same time.

International phone operators: 101; International Direct Dialing prefixes: 001, 007, or 008 (The three-digit prefix indicates that you are using a non-internet phone, which has a higher tariff than an internet phone and may cost up to eight times as much.)

AREA CODES

• 0361: all of South Bali (Bukit Peninsula, Canggu, Denpasar, Jimbaran, Legian,Nusa Dua, Sanur, Seminyak, Tanah Lot) plus Gianyar, Tabanan and Ubud)
• 0362: Lovina, Pemuteran and Singaraja
• 0363: Amed, Candidasa, Karangasem, Kintamani, Padang Bai, Tirta Gangga
• 0365: Negara, Gilimanuk, Medewi Beach, West Bali National Park
• 0366: Bangli, Besakih, Kintamani, Klungkung, Mount Agung, Nusa Ceningan, Nusa Lembongan, Nusa Penida
• 0368: Bedugul