Is Bali due a tourist cleanse?
I spent just under 2 weeks visiting Bali this April. Having always been labelled as a top holiday destination for its beauty and party life, I was very excited to be there. With a friend, I visited Kuta, Sanur, Nusa Penida and Ubud. Although the Island is a stunning place, filled with great beaches and nice bars, a lesser addressed topic is the massive leech that clings onto Bali: tourism. We met a friend, Ngurah, who we spent a day with in Ubud. He shared with us that during Covid19, Bali barely survived. He explained how the entirety of trades on the Island revolve around tourism, therefore, when nobody was visiting, the locals made no money. This made me think, at what point did Bali transition from being a self sufficient Island, to entirely reliant on income from tourists? Although tourism brings a great deal of income to Bali, it also inadvertently destroys nature, as well as the tranquility of the small islands nearby. We decided to book a snorkelling trip to Manta Point, an are...