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Foreign Correspondent: Sept 12

ABC travels to Bali to see first-hand the impact cashed up foreign developers are having on the island paradise.

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“Eat, Pray, Build” in Bali is a report tonight on Foreign Correspondent.

Bali is ranked as one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations, but is the seemingly insatiable demand for a piece of paradise threatening the very thing that makes the island so special?

This week on Foreign Correspondent reporter Bill Birtles travels to Bali to see first-hand the impact cashed up foreign developers are having on the island paradise.

The demand from holiday makers and now digital nomads is turning Bali’s iconic rice paddies and coastline into construction zones.

Critics say the Bali that many know and love is now at a crossroad and that over development and under regulation will change the island of the gods forever.

8pm Thursday the 12th of September on ABC.

3 Responses

  1. I went to Bali for the first time two months ago after years of avoiding it. I gave in only because of the cheap holiday, thanks to the high cost of living, and had to choose somewhere cheaper. It was exactly what I thought it would be: too many Australian tourists. There are a lot of abandoned buildings. Seminyak is very touristy, not one bit of a hint of Balinese culture.

  2. Looking forward to this (well, sort of), and will be watching it from Sanur before heading home tomorrow night. Good to see the ugly truth most frequent Bali travellers know is slowly destroying the place is getting some airtime… the number of ridiculous foreign investor driven projects being built over here in recent years is utterly disgusting, including the glass elevator on Nusa Penida that’s featured in this story. Corrupt governments and foreign investors looking to earn a quick buck at the cost of the local communities… the number of big malls, overpriced resorts or greedy people monetizing natural tourist attractions, building poor quality facilities which others will carry the burden of long after the foreign investors have left with their $$$ is disgusting… as are the impacts to the environment, including the numerous abandoned buildings or construction sites where projects are either abandoned or didn’t become the quick money makers others had hoped.

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