Tourism has given Balinese people real opportunities. It has created jobs and made it possible for more people to start a business of their own. But it has also made us dependent. If tourism were to collapse, many families would have nothing to fall back on.
Some people have already stopped farming or growing rice because tourism pays better. I understand why they make that choice. A family needs an income today, not only a tradition for tomorrow. But once the fields are gone and the farming knowledge is lost, what will they do if tourism no longer provides enough work?
Home industries have grown, especially the production of souvenirs and woodcarving around Ubud. This creates income, but there is another side to it. I see children leaving school early to work at home. Parents and children choose the money they can earn now over the education that might help them later.
Prices have risen across Bali. People working in tourism have seen their incomes increase, although not always enough. Those who do not work in tourism are in a more difficult position because their wages have not kept pace with the cost of daily life.
Balinese workers also have to compete with people arriving from Java, Lombok and other countries. Outside investors often have more capital and experience. Imported fruit, meat, medicine and electronics are easier to find than before, but good public healthcare remains difficult to afford. Banks and credit services have improved much more than hospitals have.
If I want water at seven in the morning, I have to get up at half past four, fill some buckets and then go back to bed.
Water is one of the clearest examples of how tourism affects ordinary life. Hotels are supplied first, and local people receive what remains. The same thing happens in mountain areas, where water that farmers need for irrigation is diverted to hotels.
Garbage collection works reasonably well in the cities. My rubbish is collected every day for a small monthly fee. Smaller towns often have no proper collection at all, even though more and more tourism workers have been pushed towards those places because they cannot afford to live in the main tourism areas.
Land and house prices have more than doubled. Foreigners are officially not allowed to buy land directly, but it is easy to find a Balinese person willing to put their name on the certificate. Traditionally, buildings in Bali were low and consisted of separate structures with different functions. Now rising land prices make developers want taller buildings, and the government has started permitting some of them.
I am also worried about law enforcement. Theft, burglary and drug offences have increased, but offenders are not often caught. Even when they are, corruption can make it possible to pay their way out. The exploitation of underage girls in tourism areas is especially serious and needs much stronger action from the government. Adult prostitution networks also operate with few real consequences.
There is another pattern involving young Balinese men who form relationships with women tourists. They are sometimes called “Kuta Cowboys.” Some invent a story about hardship in the hope of receiving gifts or money. The relationship often ends when the tourist returns home and stops sending support.
The biggest cultural change I have noticed is our understanding of time. In the past, a meeting planned for noon might begin at three and nobody worried very much. Now business teaches us that time is money. Ceremony preparations have to be done outside working hours, or people pay somebody else to do them.
At the same time, higher incomes allow more people to attend temple festivals across the island. That sounds positive, but it creates traffic jams and overcrowding at temples that were never designed for so many visitors.
When our dances and rituals are shortened and simplified only for visitors, part of their cultural value is lost.
Some guides do not know Balinese culture well enough. They may tell tourists that it is acceptable to photograph people while they are praying, although many worshippers strongly dislike this. Domestic tourists often understand the situation better because they are more familiar with our culture.
I am encouraged that decisions about development are slowly becoming less top-down and that local people are beginning to have more input. Bali does not need an endless increase in visitor numbers. Tourism should be distributed more evenly across the island, with more attention to quality and less to quantity.
I am not against tourism. I want us to recognise the dependency it creates and protect what cannot easily be rebuilt: our water, our education, our communities and the full value of our culture.