Are Villas Stealing Business From Bali’s Hotels?

(1/24/2006)

Gede Nurjaya, the Chief of the Bali Tourism Authority (BTA) and Bali's highest ranking tourism official opened a meeting of regional tourism officials from across Bali on Thursday, January 19, 2006, by casting a spotlight on how non-stop villa construction in Bali may be aggravating Bali's over-supply of hotel rooms due to the current downturn in business.

Nurjaya told the meeting that while there are officially 36,000 hotel rooms available on the island the "real" number may be closer to 42,000 when villas operating as accommodation are taken into account. He explained that while the Governor has tried to balance supply and demand issues by freezing new permits for hotel construction, such policies are rendered ineffective in the face of non-stop villa construction.

Nurjaya called on regional governments across the island to tighten controls on villa construction, particularly in areas like Canggu and Mumbul which are experiencing villa building booms. Left unchecked, the BTA Chief warned that occupancy at Bali hotels would suffer.