Unequal Scenes

Half-finished developments dot the Bukit Peninsula in southern Bali, this one near Pandawa Beach. Once a quiet stretch of cliffs and fishing hamlets, the southern tip has been swept up in a construction boom of villas, resorts and beach clubs, much of it racing ahead of any planning. Along this coast, cliffs have been carved away for clifftop villas, and authorities have moved to demolish beachfront businesses built on public land.

Bali, known as the "Island of the Gods," is a paradisiac destination celebrated for its enchanting landscapes, vibrant arts scene, and the warmth of its people. However, beneath this alluring facade, the island grapples with pervasive issues of inequality, cultural subsummation, and environmental challenges - exacerbated by its booming tourism industry and rapid development.

At the heart of this inequality is a stark contrast between urban and rural communities. The tourism industry, being the principal driver of Bali's economy, is highly concentrated in urban and coastal areas such as Denpasar, Kuta, and Ubud. These areas are vibrant with well-developed infrastructure, international hotels, restaurants, and a variety of tourism services. Conversely, rural areas, especially those in the island's interior, are significantly less developed. This uneven development and resource allocation is often accompanied by the dispossession of local communities from their lands, particularly in coastal regions where land is acquired for tourism development. As land is a primary asset for the Balinese, this dispossession accelerates income disparity, affecting the livelihood of the indigenous people and exacerbating poverty levels.

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Inequality Data created by the World Inequality Database.

White herons flying over rice fields near Seminyek.

Villas, hotels, and businesses have steadily replaced rice fields in the quest to service the island's massive reliance on tourism. In 2019, over 6 million foreign tourists visited the island.

Luxury hotels near Ubud are carefully designed to harmonize with the surrounding rice fields and landscape, but major problems of water usage and economic benefits from such projects remain.

Development and speculation abounds in hidden copses of trees, ravines and farmland far from the dense bustle of the road network and prying eyes in Bali.

The island's population jumped more than 70% from 1980 to 2020, and tourism growth has been even more explosive. Fewer than 140,000 foreign visitors came to the island in 1980. By 2019 there were 6.3 million foreign and roughly 10.5 million domestic tourists, and after a near-total collapse during the pandemic, arrivals have not just recovered but surpassed that peak: Bali drew more than 7 million in 2025. As tourism has roared back, a rise in visitors overstaying visas, breaking laws, and disrespecting sacred sites has prompted the provincial government to issue new conduct rules and step up deportations.

Tourism is woven into Balinese economy and culture, contributing well over half of the island's regional GDP, by most estimates around 60 to 70 percent before the pandemic, and employing a large share of the workforce. Yet the benefits are unevenly held: research has estimated that around 85 percent of the tourism economy is controlled by non-Balinese, who are often insulated from tourism's local costs, among them the declining quality and quantity of water. In that same study, tourism was estimated to account for about 65 percent of Bali's water consumption.

A tropical, volcanic island, Bali draws water from three main sources, crater lakes, rivers and shallow groundwater, and a traditional irrigation system called the "subak" distributes it through a network of canals, dams and tunnels. The subak, made a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2012, is central to Balinese culture, expressing the Hindu philosophy of "Tri Hita Karana," the harmony between people, nature and the spiritual realm. The island's more than 16 million annual visitors place demands on fresh water that exceed what the island can sustainably supply.

Bali's uneven water usage mirrors other resort destinations, such as Zanzibar.

Personal swimming pools at a resort in Uluwatu.

Luxury hotels inside a huge gated community in Nusa Dua, which controls access to the beach and the surrounding amenities.

Stunning access-controlled luxury beachfront hotels dot the coast, including the Apurva Kempinski, where the G20 meetings were held in 2022.

Rice terraces are the defining characteristic of the Balinese landscape, carefully managed over hundreds of years in a system of water rights and coexistence. This system is steadily being disrupted as more and more development occurs on the island.

Development in the fields near Seminyek.

While Bali does not have the megacities and infrastructure of other parts of the country like Jakarta and Surabaya, for example, economic and environmental inequality still exist. Addressing these issues necessitates a multi-pronged approach of diversifying the island's economy, investing in the development of rural areas, creating policies that safeguard land rights and cultural integrity, and implementing sustainable tourism practices. By doing so, the benefits of tourism and development can be more equitably distributed among the Balinese people, preserving the culture and allure that makes Bali truly an 'Island of the Gods'.

Unfinished development in Uluwatu.

"Parq Ubud", a development marketing itself as the "city of the future" takes shape near Ubud. The development's website bills itself as a "futuristic idea of a place where people with common values and interests come together."

Villas being built amongst the rice fields, Canggu.

Ubud, sunset.

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