With its towering limestone cliffs and crystal-clear turquoise waters, Kelingking is regularly ranked as the most beautiful beach in the world.
But few tourists actually make it to the pristine white sands of the idyllic Indonesian destination of Nusa Penida, a short boat ride from Bali.
This is because the beach is only accessible after a gruelling 30-minute descent down hundreds of rickety steps carved into the steep hillside.
However, all this is about to change with the construction of a 182-metre glass elevator and viewing platform on the sheer cliff face.
The project, spearheaded by the local government with the help of a Chinese company, has come to symbolize the tension between Bali’s unspoiled natural beauty and the push for modern development to attract wealthy foreign tourists.
Niluh Djelantik, a newly elected senator and prominent social media activist in Bali, criticised the monstrosity, which will be almost three times as tall as the Sydney Opera House.
“You could give me $100 million and I would still never get in that elevator again,” Djelantik told the paper. alphabet.
‘Kelingking Beach is beautiful as it is, and for some people, enjoying it means they have to make an effort to walk down to the beach and see the beauty below.’
With its towering limestone cliffs and crystal-clear turquoise waters, Kelingking is regularly ranked as the most beautiful beach in the world.
But few tourists actually make it to the pristine white sands of the idyllic Indonesian paradise of Nusa Penida, a short boat ride from Bali, because the beach is only accessible by a grueling 30-minute descent down hundreds of rickety steps carved into the steep hillside.
“You have to earn it, you can’t just put an elevator there like that.”
The issue of overdevelopment has divided Indonesia, with the government on Monday introducing a temporary ban on the construction of hotels, villas and nightclubs in some busy areas of Bali.
These areas include Denpasar, Badung, Gianyar and Tabanan, typical destinations for many Australian tourists.
Sang Made Mahendra Jaya, the island’s acting governor, said he wanted to “reform” tourism and suggested the ban could last up to two years but could be extended to a decade.
Around 200,000 foreigners currently live in Bali and have created problems such as crime, overdevelopment and competition for jobs, Luhut Pandjaitan, the senior minister in charge of tourism, said on his Instagram page last month.
“Foreign tourists who bring problems here, such as narcotics, gangs and other issues, we can deport them from Indonesia, from Bali, and we don’t want them to come to Bali anymore,” he said, speaking in English in a video clip.
The pause in construction is part of the government’s initiative to reform tourism in Bali, focusing on sustainability and quality jobs, while preserving the island’s culture.
Mr Pandjaitan said “quality was more important than numbers”.
“We don’t want rice paddies to be turned into villages or strip clubs,” he told the Indonesia Tourism Quality Conference last month.
However, the unspoiled beauty of Kelingking Beach is about to change with the development of a 182-metre glass elevator and viewing platform being built into the sheer cliff face (pictured: artist’s rendering).
The project, which is being spearheaded by the local government with the help of a Chinese company, has come to symbolize the tension between Bali’s unspoiled natural beauty and the push for modern development to attract wealthy foreign tourists.
He added: “We want to preserve Balinese culture because Bali, without its culture, would no longer be Bali as a paradise island.”
Foreign arrivals to Bali have surged since it reopened to tourism following the COVID-19 pandemic. Videos of tourists behaving badly often go viral, angering residents and prompting harsh responses from social media users in Indonesia.
Government figures show that 2.9 million foreign visitors arrived via Bali airport in the first half of the year, accounting for 65 percent of total foreign arrivals to Indonesia by air.
There were 541 hotels in Bali last year, figures show, up from 507 in 2019.