Kuta Lombok

People are calling Lombok the ‘New Bali’. There is good reason for this, as direct flights from Australia to the island will be active from September, making access to the much, much easier.

This means big things for the people that live here and the environment too. One Novotel Resort has already been set up in Kuta Lombok, providing the beginnings of some of the luxury travel that you expect to find in Bali, and the local people appear to really benefit from its existence. Although one opinion is that the small hotels cannot possibly compete with the big luxury brand, actually Novotel provides for a completely different kind of tourist, and therefore doesn’t take business away from the local people. In fact, it provides more jobs as a market has been set up, traditional dances take place in the hotel and private drivers are needed to serve the needs of the clientele.

Wooden homes around Kuta

Possibly more importantly, it also helps to fund a movement that helps to keep people in Kuta safe. The area has suffered with tourists no longer visiting after it got a reputation for being dangerous, with many reported robberies and attacks. With the creation of an alliance largely paid for by the hotels called BMW (Bina Masyarakat Wisata), the area is protected with security guards that patrol day and night. According to the local people, the biggest benefit of having tourism in the area is this added safety for ALL people.

A popular surfing beach

Lombok has to be the most beautiful place I have ever been to, and whilst I appreciate that people need the benefits that resorts such as Novotel bring, I really hope this doesn’t impact the environment too much. The beautiful landscape and deserted beaches are what give Lombok its charm, and so controlling the development of such resorts will be a really important priority to help maintain a balance between the economic and environmental needs. Providing more jobs is the most significant need for the local people, and it is really important that this happens in order to support a growing population, but perhaps the big businesses who will inevitably buy the land that is so cheap at the moment can take the time to consider the most environmentally friendly way of doing so.

Riding scooters can be treacherous because of these characters. Cheeky Water Buffalo.

The beaches are currently owned by the government, with local people squatting on them in small wooden huts. But when the government claims back the land, and all of the temporary construction that line beaches are replaced by concrete buildings, the coastline and aquatic life will have severe problems, along with the people who will be displaced from the homes and jobs they have been in for years. It is only a matter of time, and if Bali is any kind of indicator, it really won’t take long.

Typical beach front 'Warung', or restaurant