Land for sale: investigating tourism gentrification in Bali-Lombok hinterlands

This study presents an empirical study of tourism gentrification in Indonesia’s non-city areas which focuses on three different geographical settings of hinterlands: rural areas (Ubud, Bali), small islands (Gili Tramena, Lombok) and coastal areas (Mandalika Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Lombok). By using the lens of ‘extended urbanisation’, we investigate urbanisation process through tourism development in Bali and Lombok and how these areas become significant nodes in the global capital network. We use qualitative methods which consist of geographic information system (GIS) analysis, field observations, literature review and document analysis. This study shows that tourist destinations in Indonesia are dispersed widely but globally connected, becoming operational landscapes to cater for the upper-middle class global tourists. Manifested in ‘villa boom’, surging land prices, enclosure and displacements, Ubud, Gili Tramena and Mandalika SEZ have become gentrified. We argue that extended urbanisation through tourism should not be seen as merely the ‘operationalisation’ of landscapes, but rather the uneven socio-spatial consequences it creates.