Ten new and better “Balis” – without the chaos
Bali without a saturation of enthused Aussie tourists is like gin without tonic, a meat pie without sauce, or Canberra without a biannual leadership coup. Needless to say, Bali’s tourism industry is enormous. Where else are 18-25 year old Australians meant to go when their Instagram is looking a little bare and they’re in need of a fresh bintan singlet?
Bali without a saturation of enthused Aussie tourists is like gin without tonic, a meat pie without sauce, or Canberra without a biannual leadership coup. Needless to say, Bali’s tourism industry is enormous. Where else are 18-25 year old Australians meant to go when their Instagram is looking a little bare and they’re in need of a fresh bintan singlet?
Bali is an idyllic holiday destination. Affordable, warm, and photogenic enough for all your social media purposes. But what many people don’t know is that Bali is merely the tip of the iceberg. And Indonesia is primed and ready to let the world know just how much beauty and opportunity their humble 17,000 islands and 250,000,000 locals have to offer.
Standard Chartered reported that “Indonesia is the third fastest growing economy in Asia and the fastest within South East Asia. While Bali’s tourism industry is world famous and has been booming for the best part of two decades, the entire region is undergoing touristic development and the nominal per-capita GDP is expected to quadruple by 2020.” With all that in mind, it truly is astounding that it is primarily just Bali that engenders such success for the Indonesian government – and has thus sparked ideas for the government to launch plans for expansion.
In 2016, the Indonesian Government catapulted their ‘10 New Bali’s’ initiative, endeavouring to expedite development and establish ten new major tourist destinations in the region, replicating the economic benefits from Bali. Indonesia intends to measure the success of the plan through the stipulation of three focal goals to be achieved by 2020: have tourism comprise 8% of the nation’s total GDP; have foreign exchange income increase to Rp240 trillion ($US 18 billion); and the employment of 13 million locals.
One of the most prominent and promising members of the New 10 is Lombok, directly next door to Bali’s eastern coast. Dubbed ‘Bali without the chaos’ by some, the list of assets Lombok has on its resume appears endless. From the eye of an investor, Indonesia has the 20th largest purchasing parity in the world, with one of the biggest human resource pools available. Younger generations and the working populace are driving consumer spending in the region, as they benefit from stable inflation and a sustained economy going from strength to strength. Renewable resources (agricultural products) and nonrenewable resources (minerals) are abundant in Indonesia, and conveniently they occupy a strategic location along major sea-lanes between East and West Asia, which has a direct connection to the world’s largest market with the Malacca Strait – the most active sea lane in the world and a major global shipping route.
From the perspective of a tourist, the resorts complete with karaoke bars, hip cafes and white sandy beaches that line the Lombok coasts are incredibly enticing, while inland tourists can explore rice paddies and soy bean farms. Stretching further, the Gili islands situated just off the north-west coast provide the typical tropical island experience, with snorkelling a popular attraction to see the bright coral and many tropical fish. On land, the islands offer cycling or horse and cart as the main forms of transportation. Bars, clubs and restaurants line the main drags on the islands, and tourists and locals alike pour in and out of them during all hours of the day and night.
Already underway in Lombok is the Mandalika Project, a $3 million USD eco-tourism destination located in the Central Lombok Regency, or West Nusa Tenggara Province. The Mandalika project is currently under construction on a 1,175-hectare plot of land with 12,000 hotel rooms, a 350,000-square-meter commercial space, a 78-berth marina and a 120ha theme-park planned. The area is to also feature a street circuit complex to host the MotoGP in 2021.
Whether you’re an investor, or an Aussie larrikin looking for your next tropical holiday destination, there is very little more you could ask for that Lombok doesn’t provide. In the past couple of years, Lombok has risen as one of the country’s emerging tourist destinations. It welcomed more than 3 million visitors in 2016 and consistently experiences growth of more than 20 percent year on year. With some of the world’s most diverse flora and fauna and geological diversity, the time to tap into its potential to become the Asian epicentre of development in key areas of investment and the development of its tourism industry may have arrived – especially seeing as land prices in Lombok are still 5 to 10 times lower than its developed neighbour, Bali.
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Reach Markets have been engaged by LPG to assist with private investor management. Lombok Property Group has recently launched a brand new website detailing development updates and more information for its unique SIWA Cliffs project. You can see more at https://www.siwacliffs.com/
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