Is Lombok The Next Bali?
Tuesday, July 15th, 2008For years it has lived in the shadow of its more famous neighbor Bali. Now Indonesia’s pristine Lombok Island is making a concerted effort to build itself up as the next Bali, while trying to maintain its natural charm. Slower to catch the tourism train than its neighbor to the west, Lombok has been promoted as “unspoiled Bali”. But a future US$600 million development may see it emerge on par with Bali as a world-class tourism destination, according to the United Arab Emirates-based developer.
Tourists visiting Lombok typically treat it as a side-trip to Bali, staying just a few days. The Japanese and Australians, Bali’s top two groups of tourists, come to Lombok for the surfing. The Koreans come here to honeymoon, the Europeans see it more like an extension of Bali, and expatriates come from Jakarta for the relaxation, explains Dominique Duvivier, the general manager of Accor’s Novotel Lombok.
But he says there’s new interest in Lombok. The hotel struggled to survive in the aftermath of the tourism downturn that followed the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings. Business is particularly good this year though, with the hotel running at about 53% occupancy compared to just 30% at this time last year.
News of a new airport and UAE property developer Emaar Properties plans have helped generate interest in Lombok. “I think Bali is too crowded so they need to find a plan B,” Duvivier said of Lombok’s visitors. “Also this development program is bringing some new investors, some new tourists.” The Novotel Lombok is currently the only top-end hotel in the island’s south, although there are other budget and mid-range accommodation options in the area.
Lombok’s principal beach resort of Sengiggi is situated in the western part, closer to the capital Mataram, the current airport and Lembar, the main port for ferries to and from Lombok. Work has started on a new $US72 million ($A75.11 million) international airport, close to the town of Praya and about 30km south of the existing Salaparang airport. Authorities believe the opening of the new airport, expected in 2010, will make Lombok a primary tourist destination, rather than just an add-on to Bali. International travelers will be able to fly direct to Lombok. And the new airport will be able to handle 2.4 million visitors, a massive increase on the Salaparang airport’s 800,000 passenger capacity.
Among them are expected to be a large number of tourists from the Middle East, drawn by Emaar’s planned development of a 1,175 hectare site in south Lombok. The development will be set along a seven-kilometers natural waterfront complete with five-star resorts, luxury residences, a marina, golf course and shops. The Bali Tourism Development Corporation signed off on the Lombok mega-tourism project in March, with master planning for the development beginning in April. The first five-star hotels are expected to open to guests in a few years time and further development will take place over a number of years.
Emaar says its project, set on the Kuta and Tanjung beaches, will be environmentally friendly, integrating natural elements into a residential, leisure and hospitality zone. Unveiling the project in April last year, Emaar chairman Mohamed Ali Alabbar described Lombok as one of the most promising tourism destinations in Indonesia, adding it had the potential to be the magnet for world travelers. “We are thankful to the Indonesian government for their trust in us to support their development initiatives that will help position Lombok on par with Bali as a world-class tourism destination,” Alabbar said in a statement at the time.
Visit Lombok today and you’re certainly not met with a carbon copy of Bali. It’s immediately clear that it’s more laid back and less touristy, even though tourism is the island’s largest source of income. It’s sometimes described as being like Bali 20 years ago, although at least one Lombok travel company says that’s incorrect if you consider the landscapes and cultures that are uniquely Lombok. As lombokhotelandtravel.com puts it: “As the old saying goes, ‘You can see Bali in Lombok but you can’t see Lombok in Bali’.”
Whereas most Balinese are Hindu, Lombok’s population is mainly made up of the island’s indigenous Sasak people, most of whom are Muslims. Entering one of the traditional villages, our guide reminds us that “this is not a museum, live people live here”. The 700 people, described by guide Anaf as one big family, live here in a cluster of 150 thatched houses. Sade, situated near Kuta beach, is not a tourist setup but they do welcome visitors. Guides like Anaf show tourists around for a small donation. There’s nine other villages in this family, housing 4,200 people, with Sade being the oldest, “the mother of the villages”.
The Sasak people here continue a number of traditions, although some things have been adapted to the times. “It’s our tradition, if you like a girl you have to ‘kidnap’ her,” Anaf says. And so the parents live downstairs in a Sasak house, with the daughters sleeping up higher, next to the cooking area, until they’re 15 because then “it’s difficult to kidnap them”. Of course nowadays everyone has a mobile phone. “The kidnappings happened long, long ago, not now,” Anaf says. After a call or a text message: “The girls wait at the front of the houses. It’s more easy to kidnap them.”
The first job of a Sasak family is still farming. And the girls have to learn how to weave the multi-colored, intricate sarongs and songket fabric. “Weaving is very important, it’s passed down from mother to daughter,” Anaf says. “If the girl can’t do weaving they’re not allowed to get married in here.” It’s also known for its pottery. And of course there’s the diving, snorkelling, hiking and surfing.
Horse carts or cidomos blend in with cars and scooters in Mataram, and life generally moves at a slower pace than in Bali (which is hard to imagine when you first arrive in Bali and quickly discover everything moves according to Bali time). Riots in Mataram in early 2000 had a big impact on tourism to Lombok, as did the flow-on effects from a drop in visitor numbers after the Bali bombings.
Before the October 2002 bombing, a lot of Australians came to Lombok, Anaf recalls. The numbers dropped significantly after that, although a graph at the village shows international visitors to Sade increasing from around 1,250 in 2002 to about 4,000 last year. “Tell your family to come to Lombok because Lombok is still natural,” Anaf says as we leave.
Over at the Novotel Lombok, where the accommodation includes 23 Sasak villa rooms, set out in the style of a traditional Sasak village, Duvivier thinks the differences between Bali and its neighbour to the east are even greater than simply describing Lombok as the Bali of 20 years ago.
“In Bali, Kuta 20 years ago was still developed,” he says. “It’s more than 20 years ago, I would say even 30 to 40. “It’s [Lombok] still natural. There’s not too many places in the world where it’s still very authentic.” He’s confident Lombok can retain its own unique character even with the Emaar development. “Bali is crowded … We are far better in terms of beach here.
“There’s a few Aussie guys living here and they surf all day, living here in semi-retirement.” Duvivier predicts Lombok will grow, “little by little, yes, but not like Bali”. “I’ve worked myself in many areas and this one is totally magical. “When you see the sunset, it’s breathless. You think ‘wow, this is beautiful’.”
News published on The Sydney Morning Herald shm.com.au