Nusa Dua Beach is located on Bali’s southern east-coast. It mainly consists of four and five-star luxury resorts. Nusa means ‘island’ and Dua means ‘two’ referring to the two islands in the bay.
Nusa Dua is also one of the most popular destinations for companies and non-governmental organisations to have international conferences, conventions and exhibitions.
It is also home to Bali’s most popular golf course, the Nusa Dua Bali Golf and Country Club. Other things to visit are the Bali Collection Shopping Mall and Museum Pasifika.
The ‘master plan’ of Nusa Dua
This area was built with help of the World Bank by the Indonesian dictator Suharto in the 1970’s. According to the Bali Tourism Master plan Nusa Dua was created in an area far from “native Balinese settlement” in order to protect the Balinese from the negative impact of tourism, such as in the Kuta area.
This part of the island was chosen for its barren limestone land, beautiful beaches and the lack of water for agricultural activities. Truth is the Balinese living here had to sell their land under Suharto’s compulsory purchase programs.
Huge international hotel chains such as the Hilton (Conrad Bali, Ayodya Resort, Nusa Dua Beach Hotel), Melia, Club Med, Accor (Novotel, Amarterra Villas, Sofitel Bali, Mercure Bali) Starwood (The Laguna, St.Regis Bali, Westin Nusa Dua Bali), Hyatt (the Grand Hyatt Bali) and Nikko Hotels International (Grand Nikko Bali) have built massive resorts to accommodate the demand for luxury beach holidays. Even today many of them are owned or partially owned by the Suharto family.
The Nusa Dua Beach Tourism District has three security gates. Everybody entering this enclave is subject to security. Don’t expect x-rays machines or full-body checks. It’s more of a show than proper security.
Is this Bali?
Many first time visitors to Bali think Nusa Dua beach is the best place for a holiday. We on the other hand are still asking ourselves why?
Except for the poor Balinese working at these resorts for peanuts you will have a hard time finding ”Bali” in this area. If your partner gave you a surprise trip to the tropics and he told you that you’re staying at a resort in Okinawa, Malaysia or the Philippines you would have believed him as well.
What should be done?
So perhaps we have to look at the Bali Tourism Master plan again. But this time really apply their mission: create an enclave to protect the “native Balinese” from the negative impact of tourism on their lives.
Instead of building more accommodation on scarce land, like they are doing now in the Dreamland area (also known as New Kuta) and in other areas of the Nusa Dua Peninsula and the Bukit, investors and existing hotel chains should take their responsibility seriously.
They should apply as much measures as possible to minimise the impact of being there. Tackle the large amount of waste, find solutions for the lack of water and use reusable energy as much as possible.
For travelers not staying at one of the many Nusa Dua resorts yet want to enjoy the beautiful beach (Nusa Dua still has a stunning beach) you can go over there too.
In the recent years resorts have claimed that the beach is a private beach and accessible for resort guests only. But this is not true. The beach is open to the public. If you want to stroll along the beach, then you can. The security at the hotel will not allow you to enter through the building. However there are many public entrances with free parking in the area.
