‘Insta-grammable’ villas, utopian resorts and tourism mega projects are catering to a new breed of foreign arrival.

It’s been voted “the world’s most beautiful beach”, but most of the thousands of daily tourists who come here never step foot on the sand. 

From towering clifftops surrounding the pristine blue water below, visitors are largely content to snap selfies for Instagram.

Most opt against making the difficult 30-minute walk down a rickety path to the bottom.

Climbing back up is even harder.

But with the help of a Chinese company, the local government in charge of Kelingking Beach is now erecting a 182-metre glass elevator and viewing platform.

It will be a permanent addition scaling the cliffs to get more visitors down to the sand, and more tourist money for the island of Nusa Penida, a 40-minute boat ride from the main island of Bali.

“You could give me $100 million and I still would never ever ride on that elevator,” says Niluh Djelantik, a newly elected senator and prominent social media activist in Bali.

“Kelingking Beach is beautiful the way it is, and for some people, enjoying it means they have to put some effort in to hike down to see the beauty at the bottom,” she says, conceding it is too difficult for her to trek down.

“You have to earn it, you don’t just put a lift there.”

Djelantik is not alone. Many on Nusa Penida believe the glass elevator will be an eyesore. 

But others see the potential.

“It will mean more income for our local government, more job opportunities for us and they’ll be able to build more infrastructure here,” says I Putu Gunasta, a vendor running a small shop just metres away from construction workers.

Bali’s number of tourists is approaching pre-COVID levels this year.

Foreign Correspondent: Mitch Woolnough

The discord over the elevator reflects a wider debate brewing in Bali: to build or not to build.

Since the pandemic shut the island and its tourism-dependent economy off from the world, Bali has been making up for lost time.

Overseas visitor numbers are quickly building back up to pre-COVID levels, with government officials hopeful 2024 will be the year that breaks records.

Indonesia’s tourism minister Sandiaga Uno this year vowed to make Bali “the world’s first choice” for tourism, and exceeding six million foreign visitors is the goal.

And a post-COVID push to attract long-term visitors such as digital nomads has fuelled an unprecedented boom for residential villas.

While streams of foreign cash pouring into the island are pumping up the local economy, some fear Bali’s unique culture and natural beauty are now under threat like never before.

Rise of the ‘Insta-grammable’ villa

Arthur Richard, a 26-year-old Frenchman, is one of those helping to build the new Bali. 

The young real estate agent has lived on the island for six years and can understand why so many others want to make it their home too.

“It’s a sensation of freedom people get here like no where else in the world,” he says.

Arthur is riding the post-COVID property wave as a senior representative of Alex Villas, one of Bali’s most prolific property development companies.

New villas have to be “Insta-grammable” to entice buyers, says real estate agent Arthur Richard.

Foreign Correspondent: Mitchell Woolnough

Run by a Ukrainian, the company has a total of eight villa and apartment complexes either finished or underway, most of them around the fast developing coastal hotspot of Canggu.

“Canggu is an expat city, it’s a business city, and it has famous beach clubs, everyone wants to be here,” Arthur says. “You have a lot of celebrities coming to Bali; it’s like the Asian Ibiza at the moment.”

The newest complex spans 4,000 square metres next to rice fields, and will feature 89 units with private pools and a rooftop sauna.

“It’s very Insta-grammable,” he says, giving me the tour of one of the villas.

Slick Instagram videos – some in English, some in Russian – promote modern, fully furnished serviced apartments to overseas investors, who can snap one up for as little as $US200,000 ($300,244).

But with foreigners largely barred from buying land in Bali, the villas sell as long-term leases, usually between 25 and 50 years, with the land returning to an Indonesian owner at the end, albeit with units on it.

In his six years in Bali, Arthur says he’s witnessed “massive” changes, with rice paddy fields around Canggu progressively disappearing to make way for apartment blocks.

“I hope in future we get more and more developments going, but in a sustainable way,” he says. “The target is not to make Bali like New York City or London.”

Gobbling up the rice paddies

Some on the island believe it’s already too late.

“From heaven to hell” is how permaculturalist Chakra Widia describes the changes unleashed upon his home of Ubud in recent years.

The inland town has long drawn tourists for its serene rice terraces and cooler climate.

But a building boom has taken hold in Bali’s inland too, with many farmers selling or leasing their land for villas to accommodate the new wave of tree changers and digital nomads from abroad.

In some cases, developers successfully apply to local governments for green zones to conserve farmland to be changed, in other cases, builders commence construction without the right permits.

“The force pulling everything towards tourism is too strong,” he says.

Views over green rice paddies are high on real estate buyers’ wish lists.

Foreign Correspondent: Mitchell Woolnough

The main town’s roads near a famous monkey forest are now regularly jammed with cars and motorbikes.

A commute to the airport, just 35 kilometres away, can often stretch beyond two hours.

Chakra Widia believes government estimates of around 1,000 hectares of farmland disappearing for development in Bali each year are conservative.

And he says social activists seeking to the put the brakes on more tourism development struggle to be heard.

“You just feel very small, and you just know for everything you’re trying to do, no one is going to be on your side,” he says.

“You have no bargaining position, so you look at these rice fields turning to concrete, and you just feel hopeless.”

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Not everyone is cashing in though.

Fifty-five-year-old I Nyoman Larsia has around 60 acres of farmland that’s been in his family for 300 years.

Groups of tourists on bicycles regularly peddle through the paddies, helping the farmers make some extra income.

He’s determined not to sell it, but concedes neither of his two adult children want to work the fields, and couldn’t make a living even if they did.

“The gap between those working in the tourism industry and farmers is widening,” he says.

Even I Nyoman himself can’t make a sufficient living off farming rice, so he also works in construction, helping to build the villas that are increasingly dotting the landscape.

But still he doesn’t want to sell, even as pressure grows from land brokers who arrive every few months offering ever higher prices for his fields.

“Some try to intimidate me, call me stupid for not selling,” he says. 

“But for me, the land is owned by my family, it’s inherited from my ancestors. I’m not afraid of brokers or investors.”

The quest to build Bali’s next hotspot

Since the 1980s, Bali has embraced large scale tourism, with a special zone for resorts established south of the airport at Nusa Dua.

Kuta Beach, just to the north, then became a focal point for Australians, before development spread further north along the coast to Seminyak.

The spread of villas and beach clubs then continued to Canggu, with increasing traffic congestion following.

Now, with Canggu increasingly built up, the next hotspots are emerging further along the coast.

Since 2021, a Russian tech and education investor Sergey Solonin has been transforming close to 50 hectares of beachfront land at Nyanyi into what’s dubbed a “creative city”.

The $US350-400 million project, named Nuanu, includes a beach club, hotel, school, alpaca farm, creative spaces and villas.

Mr Solonin says it was difficult for others to grasp the vision when he first started working on it during the COVID pandemic years.

“I think locals thought I’m crazy and still think I’m crazy because it’s such a complicated project,” he says.

“Bali is the best place to live in the world, I chose it from 23 different destinations, so I wanted to try and build something special here, a city for creative communities.”

Nuanu recently brought Australian folk duo Angus and Julia Stone to headline a three-day festival that combined wellness sessions, DJ sets and art installations.

Solonin says he and his partners plan to build on only 30 per cent of the land, despite regulations allowing them to build on up to 60 per cent of it.

Sergey Solonin took inspiration from the Burning Man festival for Nuanu.

Foreign Correspondent: Mitchell Woolnough

“In this sense, it’s not like a regular development project,” he says, noting he wants to increase the number of Balinese children attending a newly opened school at the site.

The low-density construction pledge has offset concerns from conservationists worried about land disappearing in Bali.

But the new project is acting like a lure, and already signs on the way advertise new villa developments near Nuanu, in a sign Nyanyi could become Bali’s next hotspot.

Local governments are generally encouraging.

“Tourism is still our core business,” says I Wayan Adi Arnawa , the deputy head of Badung regency, a local government area that takes in many of Bali’s most popular tourist areas.

He concedes space utilisation is a challenge, and insists the Badung regency government does take action against people found to be in breach of their permits.

“It’s not like the rules aren’t enforced, there are actions we take, like demolishing buildings or directing developers to adjusts their construction in line with the permit,” he says.

But he acknowledges the law enforcement capacity to check and monitor all developments is limited.

Mr Arnawa, a rising star of Balinese politics, will be part of island-wide elections soon that will see a new government elected and a shake-up of local governments across the island.

Issues stemming from the rapid development will be in focus.

With the election campaign in full swing, Bali’s acting governor Sang Made Mahendra Jaya has put a proposal to put a temporary pause on the construction of hotels, villas and beach clubs in some of Bali’s busiest areas, including Kuta, Seminyak, Canggu, Uluwatu, Ubud and Tabanan.

But no timeline has been given and it won’t stop the spread of development elsewhere on the island. 

For now, the building boom will continue.

Back at Kelingking Beach, Niluh Djelantik’s anger rises when talk turns to Bali’s politicians and what she sees as a build-at-all-costs mentality.

“My duty is to wake them up and to slap them in the face and to let them know you have a f***ing job to do, you know,” she says.

“Bali is the only place we have. And they destroyed the natural beauty of the island. There are other ways to make money.”

Watch Eat, Pray, Build tonight on Foreign Correspondent, 8pm on ABC TV and ABC iview.