“It’s like the Costa del Sol for Australians. You’ll hate it.”
The response from my friend who lived in Sydney when I told her I was going to Bali was not positive. And to be honest, I wasn’t particularly surprised. While I had once dreamed of surfing Bali’s legendary breaks and hiking among the island’s breathtaking volcanoes, it had steadily slipped down my list of destinations to visit.
And it seems that Bali could be losing its sheen for influencers, too. Molly Mae’s sister Zoe Rae left the island after just a couple days because it didn’t live up to what she saw on Instagram. This was followed by a series of writers, bloggers and journalists jumping in to say that they too had been shocked to see this island presented behind a sheen of social media filters was not, in fact, just sipping smoothies in chic cafes, swings over rice fields and infinity pools spilling onto glorious golden beaches.
But should we really be all that surprised? This is an island overwhelmed by the number of visitors who have poured in, attracted by its staggering natural beauty, spirituality and hospitality. Without an effective plan to control the surge in tourists, the island has struggled to keep up with the sheer volume, putting a strain on infrastructure, including water supply, waste management and roads. While an economic blessing for some, tourism has been a nightmare for others – drawing local people away from their homes to the visitor hotspots and creating a sense of resentment thanks to several high profile incidents of culturally insensitive tourists disrespecting traditional values and religion.
Read more: This hotel on a remote Indonesian island is using horses for wellness
This was something I felt as I travelled through Bali myself last November. The heart-aching beauty of watching the sun rise over Mount Batur was somewhat tempered by the hundreds of other tourists who had the same idea that morning; the party-like atmosphere, the plastic bottles that littered the trails, and the buzz of a drone flying overhead. The streets of Ubud were choked with traffic, and during my morning run through Denpasar I kicked aside rusted beer cans and broken flip-flops while…
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