Bali’s Tourism in (not-very-reliable) Numbers Part II: Overtourism and Overdevelopment
The table reveals a dramatic surge in tourist arrivals to Bali over the past fifteen years, with domestic and international numbers soaring 240% and 121%, respectively. This rapid growth, however, has severely strained the island’s resources. Bali faces significant limitations: slow population growth, limited road infrastructure, and dwindling supplies of water, electricity, and food. To cope with the influx of tourists, establishments are forced to rely on groundwater extraction, import essential supplies, leading to inefficiencies within the hotel and restaurant sectors.
The rapid increase in tourist arrivals necessitates a swift expansion of the tourism industry’s workforce, requiring hotels, restaurants, and related businesses to recruit talents from neighbouring islands or even hire foreign migrants (or, to use a more contemporary term, “expats”). This influx of workers from outside Bali will strain resources, increase traffic on the island’s narrow streets, and create a greater demand for housing. These factors present significant challenges for Bali. Despite these concerns, the Balinese government has set an ambitious target of attracting 6.5 million international arrivals by 2025… 🤷🏻
Bali has also experienced a significant surge in hotel construction over the past fifteen years, with substantial growth observed across all categories. Notably, five-star hotels saw a 150% increase, while four-star and three-star hotels witnessed even more dramatic growth at 496% and 384%, respectively. This expansion is also reflected in the number of bedrooms per hotel, with increases of 85% (five-star), 395% (four-star), and 209% (three-star) — please refer to the table at the bottom of this writing.
Despite this rapid growth, hotel occupancy rates have been declining. In 2018, a peak year for occupancy at 64.82%, a substantial 35% of hotel rooms (approximately 18,600 units) remained vacant. This trend continued, with over 23,000 rooms unsold per day in 2019.
This raises a very simple question: why does Bali continue to add hotel rooms while occupancy rates are declining across all hotel star-rating categories? According to MidAmerican Energy, an empty hotel room consumes an average of 10kWh of electricity and 35 litres of water daily for various purposes, including air conditioning, minibar usage, cleaning, and other maintenance. Based on this estimation, in 2019 alone, Bali likely spent approximately 83.9 gigawatt-hours of electricity and 293 million litres of water to maintain these unoccupied rooms! Even if these estimates are slightly higher, the yearly electricity and water costs associated with vacant hotel rooms in Bali remain mindblowingly high.
Even for hotels managing to stay occupied, another challenge looms: a shrinking tourist stay duration. Over the past fifteen years, both domestic and international tourists have exhibited a significant decrease in average length of stay, by 39% and 24% respectively. This trend translates to higher operational costs for hotels. Frequent guest turnovers necessitate more frequent changes of linens and amenities, intensifying workloads for front office and housekeeping staff.
While the hospitality industry often discusses environmental responsibility, it frequently overlooks the significant impact of its core operational elements, such as the sheer number of rooms and the fundamental business model. For example, how can a grand hotel with 400 rooms reconcile genuine environmental stewardship with the provision of lavish breakfast buffets, maintaining 400 perpetually stocked minibars, and powering an array of amenities including hundreds of air conditioning units, televisions, and a profusion of ornamental fountains?
This massive model, designed to accommodate 400 guests daily (assuming the 50% double room occupancy throughout the year), inherently demands a significant environmental footprint and ultimately represents a less than ideal approach to hospitality — just as we have terms like “fast food” and “fast fashion” to describe mass-market restaurants and fashion brands, we may analogously refer to the equivalent hotel model as “fast hospitality” or “fast hotel”.
While the above statistics paint a concerning picture, the true number of hotels in Bali might be considerably higher. Booking.com alone lists over 17,000 “hotels and other places to stay” in Bali, encompassing everything from luxury establishments to one-star options, and even unclassifiable properties.
Unfortunately, crucial data on hotel and restaurant tax revenue, detailed water and electricity consumption, and waste generation remains elusive. This lack of transparency makes it difficult to assess the efficiency of Bali’s tourism industry, particularly in terms of resource utilisation and economic benefit to the Bali residents themselves.
The availability of dining options, specifically restaurants, has seen significant growth in Bali. While data from the Indonesian Central Statistics Agency (BPS) currently only spans 2012–2022 and 2023, it reveals a remarkable expansion in the past decade. Restaurant numbers have surged by 230%, accompanied by a 182% increase in seating capacity. However, the BPS data does not clarify whether these figures encompass hotel restaurants and other establishments like warungs and beach clubs, a key factor contributing to Bali’s growing popularity among tourists over the last ten years. Yay!
The observed growth in restaurants aligns broadly with the 260% increase in all-class hotels, suggesting a parallel expansion in related sectors. This raises the question of differentiation: what unique qualities distinguish one restaurant from its competitors and entice diners? Furthermore, the sheer scale of Bali’s culinary scene — boasting over 4,000 restaurants, a figure that doubles to 8,000 when all establishment types on TripAdvisor are considered— prompts consideration of the resources required to sustain them.
For instance, Bali is home to the world’s largest beach club, a sprawling 2.9-hectare complex housing three restaurants, five bars (collectively forming the longest beach bar in Asia), and the island’s largest nightclub. Remarkably, this establishment is adjacent to another, which bills itself as the “World’s Best Beach Club” (according to its website meta-title), featuring thirteen bars, ten restaurants, and four swimming pools.
These large-scale establishments highlight the considerable resources — including intricate supply chains, substantial water and energy consumption, a large workforce, and significant land use — required to support not only these individual venues, but also Bali’s broader dining industry, encompassing both the self-proclaimed “best” and the demonstrably “biggest”, in the world!
