Bali needs better north-south links

BALI should focus on developing infrastructure linking its southern and northern regions to encourage development in the north, instead of worrying about oversupply of hotel rooms in the south, according to Bali Tourism Development Corporation executive director I Made Mandra.

“We cannot expect investors to go north without good access. They will run to Lombok instead, where infrastructure is improving,” he said.

The Bali provincial government introduced a ban in January on new hotel and resort development in Denpasar, Badung and Gianyar, already home to 85 per cent of Bali’s 45,557 rooms, to persuade investors to look at the island’s north as an alternative.

“A moratorium (on construction in the south) is not what Bali needs now,” said Mandra. “If no one cares about the road and the congestion from the airport to (Nusa Dua), Bali will sink no matter how great the hotels are.”

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