Balinese homestays: an indigenous response to tourism

opportunities

Geoffrey Wall and Veronica Long

INTRODUCTION
Most people will agree that tourism is a major agent of change in many destination areas, yet
the complexity of the changes associated with tourism is not always fully appreciated. For
example, while it may be convenient to view tourism as an exogenous force impacting upon a
destination area at a particular point in time, such a perspective is likely to be an over-
simplification and may, at best, lead only to the discovery of partial truths. While many
crucial decisions for tourism development are often made outside destination areas and may
be beyond the control of destination area residents (Britton 1989, 1991), the latter may not
simply be passive recipients of tourism: they may encortrage, resist, or even participate in the
development process. The distinction between residents, or 'insiders', and those from
elsewhere, or 'outsiders', may be blurred and may vary with both the spatial and temporal
dimensions of the area under consideration. Furthermore, it is highly unlikely that the
destination area will have been static at the place or time of impact; rather, it is likely to have
been evolving in response to a variety of internal and external forces of change, both touristic
and otherwise. Of course, this makes it difficult to distinguish and separate the consequences
of tourism from changes attributable to other factors.

A simple perspective upon the impacts of tourism as resulting from the introduction of a new
ctivity modifying a static society may be usefully replaced by a more complex dialectical
formulation in which tourism initiatives and a complex recipient society interact, each
influencing, responding to and being moulded by the other. Thus, recipient societies are not
mere recipients of tourism development. They constitute the context in which development
takes place and their members may actively respond to the new opportunities which that
development affords

This chapter is concerned with tourism in Bali, lndonesia (Figure 2.1). In particular, it is
concerned with the proliferation and consequences of 'homestays' as an indigenous response
to the economic opportunities associated with the growth of mass tourism in the island. It is
shown that some permanent residents of Bali have seized the opportunity to provide
accommodation for visitors, thereby participating actively in the development of tourism.
This participation has been facilitated, in part, by the structure of th Balinese housing
compound which has proven to be readily adaptable to changing circumstance, albeit at the
expense of reduced associated cultural significance and possible environmental costs.

In addition to demonstrating the active participation of some residents of Bali in the
development of tourism, observations are also made concerning the-meqits of small-scale,
indigenous provision of tourist accommodations.

The following topics will be covered: the site and situation of Bali and the developmeut of
tourism in the island will be described briefly; the debate over appropriate scales of tourism
development will be reviewed in general, and with specific reference to Bali, leading to a
discussion of indigenous responses to tourism in Bali, especially the development of
homestays; a case study of hometays in one village io south central Bali will be presented,
followed by an examination of the religious significance of Balinese domestic architecture
and modifications of domestic housing resulting lrom involvement in the provision of tourist
accommodation. The chapter terminates with a summary and conclusions relating to the
implications of indigenous involvement in small-scale tourist accommodation enterprises.

THE SITE AND SITUATION OF BALI
The island of Bali is a province of Indonesia. In an area of 5,633 square kilometres live
approximately 2.8 million people, the majority of whom, unlike those in most of the rest of
Indonesia, are Hindu. Although the island is densely populated, it has experienced the green
evolution and the Balinese are self-suffcient in rice. The well-watered volcanic slopes,
particularly in south-central Bali, yield three crops each year, usually two of rice and one of
dryland vegetables. The sawah, or terraced, irrigated rice fields, constitute a magnificent,
highly-productive landscape which has evolved over the centuries and which has become a
scenic backdrop for tourist activities.

Although Bali is. becoming increasingly urbanized, approximately 80 per cent of the
residents of Bali still live in more than 600 villages across the island. Thus, involvement with
the land and the cycles of planting and harvesting are still strong (Lansing 1991). Although
regional variations are to be found (Barth 1993), each village has, customarily, three major
temples and, indeed, each family has its own family temple. Additional temples and shrines
are located in the sawah and in other auspicious places. These temples are the sites of
numerous colourful ceremonies which placate the Gods, and celebrate the agricultural round
as well as the rites of passage of individual Balinese. Although the Balinese do not have a
word for art, perhaps because traditionally there were few specialist artists and most such
creations were to honour the Gods, they have a strong artistic tradition with a rich heritage of
music, dance, painting, carving, work in gold and silver and other crafts, much of which has
been and continues to be undertaken to placate and glorify the Gods. However, these artistic
traditions have not been static but have evolved in response to outside forces, such as the
influence of European artists who have chosen to settle and work in Bali, and the recent
opportunities associated with tourism. They have also been adopted as symbols of a national
culture by government spokespersons in Jakarta.

While there are many tropical islands with sandy beaches and volcanic cores (as, for
example, in the Caribbean), the culture of Bali is unique and has led to the development of a
policy of cultural tourism (pariwisata budaya) (Picard 1992) in which the way of life (and
even of death, for cremations have become tourist attractions) has become a major asset for
tourism.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF TOURISM IN BALI
Although the first explicit advertising of Bali as a tourist destination took place in 1914, and
KPM (the Dutch government steamship line) brought tourists to the island in the inter-war
years, numbers of visitors remained small and fluctuated considerably, partly reflecting an
unstable political situation. A 1975 assessment of visitation (Udayana University and
Francillon 1975) suggested a decline of international visitors to Indonesia from 35,915 in
1964 to l9,3l l in 1966 with an estimate of 2,150 visitors to Bali in the latter year. After 1969
when the international airport was opened, following the opening of the first large coastal
hotel, the Bali Beach, at Sanur in 1966 (MacRae 1992), numbers of visitors increased rapidly.

As an island, one might expect that it would not be difficult to generate statistics on the
numbers of visitors to Bali. but, in fact, accurate figures do not exist. This is because although
many international visitors fly directly into Bali, others enter Indonesia in Jakarta, making
their way to Bali later, either using domestic flights or crossing by ferry from Java. In
addition, domestic visitors should be added to the number of international visitors to get a
complete visitor tally. Nevertheless, the general picture is clear: few visitors prior to the
completion of the international airport followed by very rapid growth which is projected to
continue past the year 2000.

Picard (1993) has suggested that 11,000 foreign visitors arrived directly in Bali in 1969,
rising to 120,000 in 1979 and 436,000 in 1989. To these should be added an unknown
number of indirect foreign visitors plus perhaps 400,000 domestic visitors for a total which
likely exceeds 1 million annually and which has been projected to increase at 15 per cent per
annum for foreign visitors, and 5 per cent per annum for domestic visitors, According to
Hassall and Associates (1992), the number of visitors to Bali increased at an average annual
rate of 7.6 per cent between 1981 and 1990, 12 per cent for international visitors and 3,4 per
cent for domestic visitors, so that there were 1.9 million visitors in 1990,60 per cent of whom
were foreigners. In 1990, the visitors came predominantly from Europe (36.3 per cent),
Australia (28.7 per cent) and Japan (14.6 per cent), with the proportion from other South-east
Asian countries expanding rapidly and the proportion from Australia declining somewhat in
recent years.

Tourism has grown so rapidly in the last twenty-five years that, if the craft industries
associated with tourism are included, it now contributes in excess of 20 per cent of the gross
provincial product and one recent estimate suggests that the figure may now be as high as 40
per cent (Bali Tourism Development Corporation, no date).

The spatial pattern of tourist development in Bali has been influenced markedly by the Bali
Tourism Development Study which was sponsored by the United Nations and the World
Bank and undertdken by SCETO (French consultants) (Wall and Dibnah 1992). This report
recommended that tourist accommodation be concentrated in the south of the island in the
resorts of Sanur, Kuta and Nusa Dua. It was felt that possible adverse cultural consequences
would be reduced if visitors spent their nights in the resorts and ventured into the interior of
the island only during the day on designated excursion routes to acquire their cultural
experiences. Even with such a strategy, it was feared, erroneously. that Balinese culture
would likely disappear within fifteen years.

The construction of Nusa Dua was one major outcome of the study. Nusa Dua is a resort
enclave consisting of five-star hotels and a conference centre and is designed to cater
primarily to an up-market, international clientele. In contrast, Kuta is a maze of smaller,
frequently locally-owned establishments, with only a limited number of large hoteis which
have been built very recently. Sanur has mixed development with five star hotels and other
establishments of contrasting sizes and varied status. The concentration of development has
contributed to congestion, regional imbalance, in-migration and environmental degradation
(e.g. traffic congestion, sanitation problems, beach erosion, salt water intrusion) in the south
of the island (Bali Sustainable Development Project 1992). Such problems have resulted in a
re-evaluation of this strategy leading to plans for greater dispersal of tourism in selected areas
tfuoughout the island (Dibnah 1992).

Although development has been concentrated in the south, the interior has long been
attractive to those interested in viewing the landscape and experiencing Balinese culture at
close quarters. Smaller inland resorts, such as Ubud which was pioneered by European artists,
cater to a different clientele often through small, indigenously-owned, accommodation
establishmenis called homestays or 'losmen' . However, even in such places, the outside
investor is not a rarity, particularly in larger establishments of recent vintage.

Thus, it has been argued that economic importance, spatial concentration, and a rapid rate of
growth have been recent characteristics of tourism in Bali. This situation has been spawned
predominantly by outsiders, such as Westerners who have created an image for Bali (Vickers
1989, Picard 1992, MacRae 1992), international organizations and foreign consulting firms,
and government bureaucrats in Jakarta who have sought hard currencies from tourism to
replace declining I revenues from oil. Nevertheless, it will be argued that the 1 Balinese have
not been passive recipients of change. Rather, some have chosen to make an active response
in order to gain a share of the spoils of tourism.

SCALES OF DEVELOPMENT
Critics of tourism often point to large resort developments, particularly resort enclaves, as
being major contributors to the negative impacts of tourism (Britton 1980, 1982, 1989, 1991,
Rodenburg 1980, Long 1991). Not only are they often out-of-scale with the indigenous
landscape and ways of life, it is often argued, but they consume large quantities of capital
which could be more usefully applied in other ways. The involvement of outside investors is
necessary because of the large capital requirements which inhibit the participation of local
people. The result is that profits are taken out of the community. Management positions often
go to outsiders for few local people have appropriate skills. Local residents are often denied
access to resources, such as beaches, which they previously used and enjoy few beneflts from
the developments.

In contrast, it is often suggested that smaller developments are less disruptive, have more
modest capital requirements which permit local participation, are associated with higher
multipliers and smaller leakages, leave control in local hands, are more likely to fit in with
indigenous activities and land uses, and generate greater local benefits (Saglio 1979, Wall
1993). These arguments are further countered with suggestions that large developments are
necessary to acquire economies of scale and in order to gain access to international markets
and marketing systems, occupancy rates often being low and highly variable for small
establishments.

Bali, with its diversity of resort types and associated variety in accommodation
establishmeuts, should be an ideal location in which to document the veracity of these
arguments. In fact, there has been debate concerning the appropriateness of existing scales of
development in Bali with, for example, Rodenberg (1980) advocating greater reliance upon
smaller establishments and' Jenkins (1982) supporting the development of at least some large
establishments to ensure the presence of a critical mass of tourism opportunities sufficient to
attract international attention. One of the authors of this chapter, writing in the context of
Bali, has suggested that numbers and types of accommodation might be designated for
specific locations as a means to ensure that the nature of tourist development is in harmony
with the ability of an area to sustain tourism, from both natural and cultural perspectives
(Wall 1993).
While it is not difficult to be sympathetic to the arguments of the proponents of small-scale
developments, it is not easy to find examples in the literature of successful small-scale
indigenous tourism developments in developing countries. Thus, empirical evidence for the
veracity of the assertions of advocates of small-scale developments is not widely available. In
fact, some of the literature, such as Saglio's (1979) study of Lower Casamance, Senegal,
suggests, at best, mixed results. In fact, ongoing discussions concerning ecotourism
(Lindberg and Hawkins 1993), alternative tourism (Butler 1990) and sustainable tourism
(Butler 1991, Wheeller 1992), reflect the difficulty of providing clear guidelines for and
examples of small-scale, locally-owned, tourism developments. There is, thus, a need to
document examples of small-scale indigenous responses to tourism (see also Cukier, Chapter
3, this volume), both to assess the strength of the arguments of the supporters of such
developments and to learn from the successes and lailures of previous similar development
schemes. This chapter will make a contribution to this discussion through documentation of
Balinese homestays.

HOMESTAYS AS AN INDIGENOUS RESPONSE TO
TOURISM
The rapid growth of both international and domestic tourism has prompted many responses
from residents of Bali who have sought to benefit from the economic opportunities, which
tourism has brought. These opportunities have occurred in both the formal and informal
sectors, in part time ang full time positions, including the establishment of hotels, restaurants
and guide services and employment in such businesses, as well as the manufacture and sale of
craft products, the undertaking of cultural performances, and the production of fruit and
vegetables to feed the visitors. One among many such responses has been the development of
homestays or losmen in which Balinese families take visitors into their homes in much the
same way as bed-and-breakfast accommodation has proliferated in parts of the western
world.

Although a perusal of guide books indicates the widespread availability of homestays in
much of Bali and their likely appeal to budget travellers because of price, and to those
interested in acquiring an intimate experience of Balinese culture through living with a
family, there is little documentation of homestays in Bali.

The following information has been taken from background statistics compiled under the
auspices of the United Nations Development Program by Hassall and Associates (1992) in
the process of preparing a tourism plan for Bali. It is presented in order to provide
background information on the characteristics of homestays. Hassell and Associates suggest
that there were, as of 1992, 1,663 rooms for rent in homestays in Bali. This is likely an
underestimate (perhaps reflecting incomplete registration of establishments) for, as the case
study below will indicate, the authors identified twenty-five establishments with an average
of four rooms each in one village neighbourhood alone.

A survey of 100 accommodation establishments, fourteen of which were homestays, is
reported by Hassall and Associates (1992-), Although the subsample of homestays is small,
in the absence of more detailed information, it is used to provide an indication of some of the
attributes of this type of accommodation. The homestays in the sample were all owned by
Balinese (71 per cent) or other Indonesians (29 per cent), had been in operation for an
average of seven years and had an average of nine rooms for rent. Each homestay employed
five staff, on average, and the staff were approximately evenly divided by gender. The
majority of employees were classified as being unskilled, aged between 21 and 30 (70 per
cent) and were largely Balinese (91 per cent) with the remainder originating from elsewhere
in Indonesia. No foreign owners or employees were located in the sample. Of the employees
in homestays, 7l per cent worked on a permanent, full-time basis, with 0.48 employees per
room, and an average remuneration of Rp.49,000 per month (Rp.2,000 = US$1
approximately, December 1995 value). In comparison, 85 per cent of those working in five-
star hotels were employed on a permanent, full-time basis, at 1.61 persons per room, and
were paid almost six times as much. Occupancy rates in homestays were estimated to be less
than 40 per cent and most clients (81 per cent) were judged to be travelling for pleasure rather
than for business (10 per cent) or staying for other reasons (9 per cent), The origins of patrons
were as follows: domestic 2l per cent, Australia and New Zealand 33 per cent, Europe 33 per
cent, Japan 5 per cent, with 8 per cent coming from elsewhere.

The only detailed study specifically devoted to homestays in Bali known to the authors is that
by Hussey (1986, 1989) on Kuta. Drawing pimarily upon a sample of fifty accommodation
establishments in Kuta in 1984, Hussey demonstrated that even in situations in which
resources may appear to be limited, existing resources will be used effectively by local
people if they see an opportunity to engage in entrepreneurial activities which will improve
their economic situation. Aided by the availability of a white sand beach, proximity to the
airport, government promotion of Bali, and, at least initially, absence of competition from
professional developers, local entrepreneurs were able to meet the relatively low standards
sought by 'budget' tourists. Successful involvement resulted from a willingness to take risks
and liquidate resources, the ability to recognize changes in tourists demands, and the
manipulation of 'traditional' resources such as the residence, land, gold, agrarian products and
family social networks, singularly or in combination, in order to establish businesses to meet
a growing demand from foreign visitors.

THE CASE OF PELIATAN
In order to obtain a further insight into the development and operation of homestays, a case
study was undertaken in Piliatan, a village near Ubud in south-central Bali.

Homestays are the predominant form of accommodation in and around Ubud although most
are not listed in brochures or advertised widely. This is due, in part, to the official plans
which concentrated the majority of large-scale accommodations in the south of the island.
However, it is also associated with the fact that many visitors to the area are seeking a
cultural experience. Homestays are usually family-owned and operated and accommodation
usually consists of a room with two single beds, a bathroom, and breakfast. They are
generally cheap (averaging approximately Rp.10,000 per night single, Rp.12000 double or
US$S and $6 respectively) and supply inexpensive accommodation for a low-budget
clientele. However, they also afford views of traditional housing compounds and family life
and cater to the demand from some tourists for interacion with the Balinese. As Stringer
(1981) has pointed out in a western context, bed-and-breakfast establishments are seen not
only as a form of commercial accommodation, they are also viewed by both operators and
patrons as a means of establishing interpersonal relationships.

METHODS
During 1991, one of the authors lived in a homestay in the village-of Peliatan, near Ubud, for
three months. The location was chosen because of the reputation of the village as a traditional
community but, on taking up residence, the large number of homestays soon became apparent
and it was decided to take advantage of the situation to investigate the phenomenon.

The research focused upon one banjar, or neighbourhood in the village of Peliatan. The
banjar consisted of approximately 200 families living in housing compounds located on two
parallel roads running along a ridge between two rivers. The banjarr included twenty six
homestays, three restaurants, six toilet, and six warungs (food stalls). The banjar will not be
named to protect the identity of informants.

The researcher adopted a participant as observer role (Salmen 1987; Jorgensen 1989; Babbie
1990). As a temporary resident in a homestay, the daily operation of the homestay and life in
the banjar were observed. In-depth, key-informant interviews were employed to explore
aspects of tourism, residence in the banjar making it possible to have contact with the same
individuals on a number of occasions. In addition, at the end of the field experience when
many personal contacts had been established and some basic abilities to converse in
Indonesian had been developed, a brief survey of accommodation establishments was
undertaken.

Twenty-five of the twenty-six accommodation establishments in the banjar were surveyed.
One was excluded as being physically separate, in operation much longer, and offering a
different level of service from the rest. Of the twenty-five surveyed, one further establishment
was excluded from subsequent analyses since it was a four-star hotel, owned by a Dutch
national.

The following information was collected: ownership, number of years of operation, number
of rooms for rent, prices, availability of hot and cold water, characteristics of workers,
sources of managerial knowledge, and plans for the future.

The aggregated responses for each of the items of information will be presented and
discussed briefly, followed by a more detailed consideration of their implications,
supplemented by additional insights gleaned from key-informant interviews and personal
observation.

CHARACTERISTICS OF HOMESTAYS IN PELIATAN
All but one of the twenty-four homestays were owned and operated by resident families.
They had been in operation for between one month and eighteen years, although eleven had
been in operation for one year or less, and two were under construction. They had between
one and nine rooms for rent, although most were quite small, seventeen having four or less
rooms for rent. Prices per room ranged between Rp.5,000-20,000 per night single with cold
water, and Rp.10,000-30,000 with hot and cold water (although only four establishments had
rooms with hot water), and were only slightly more expensive for double occupancy. In half
of the establishments all work was done by family members, seven relied primarily on hired
help, and the remainder used a mixture of family and hired workers. Twelve respondents
claimed to have had previous experience in some sort of tourist business or in a tourist area
but two admitted that they were currently uncertain of what they were doing and were
learning on the job. No formal job training was reported. With respect to plans for the future,
sixteen wanted to build additional rooms and two wanted to add hot water.

It should be evident from the above that the accommodation establishments in the study
banjar constitute examples of indigenous responses to tourism opportunities. Most were
small, locally-owned and operated, and most had a short history. Whether the latter reflects
rapid recent growth or the instability of small establishments is not known.

The research, like that of Hussey (1986) mentioned above, clearly demonstrates the desire
and ability of at least some Balinese to cater to tourists. However, the research also
uncovered some interesting dynamics which suggest that, as implied in the introduction, even
small-scale, locally-owned, tourism developments may be a mixed blessing.

Although small-scale enterprises can succeed economically with relatively small numbers of
tourists because of low overheads and limited leakages, the small scale, low occupancy rates
and low prices restrict economic benefits. Homestays require a relativily low inicial capital
outlay and, in the study banjar, this type of business was potentially accessible to any family
with a spare room or the space to build one, for small rooms and a lack of hot water were
generally acceptable to the existing clientele. However, unfortunately, returns to investors in
the study banjar are unclear: operators generally lacked formal management and pricing
skills, and actual prices paid varied since bargaining is a part of most transactions. Most
likely, homestay operation was a supplementary income for many operators.

The rapid growth in the number of establishments and the desire of many of their owners to
expand raises questions concerning the eventual size and sustainability of such developments
and their compatibility with other land uses. Continued expansion could reduce the
'authenticity' of the area making it indistinguishable from other banjars involved in tourism in
nearby Ubud, thereby threatening its market niche. In addition, the researcher was informed
of tensions between those in traditional compounds and those accommodating tourists. The
latter complained of the noises made by domestic animals and there was a rumour that sixty
animals (chickens and dogs) had been poisoned to eliminate noise that was bothering guests.
At the same time, noise emanating from homestays and restaurants was a cause of concern
for permanent residents.

Homestay operation may have implications for family life, particularly as most homestays
require considerable family input in their operation and management. In addition to homestay
tasks, owners often undertook other forms of employment and also maintained their banjar
responsibilities. Homestay operation likely increased household workloads. particularly for
women and children who did the cooking, cleaning, laundry and shopping. With the
increased responsibilities of homestay management, the participation of complete homestay
families in other activities such as traditional ceremonies was often not possible because one
member of the household had to remain at home to operate the business.

Traditionally, some Balinese rituals are undertaken by specific members of the household.
Usually, a woman of the household makes offerings at the family temple three times per day.
The researcher observed the husband and children making the offerings when the woman was
too busy with homestay duties. The researcher also observed homestay families regularly
including tourists in banjar ceremonies and guests often accompanied hosts while shopping
at the local market. The significance of such observations is, at present, unclear but
independent tourists, who comprise the majority of the homestay market, tend to stay longer
and have greater interaction with host families than group tourists, so that they may be more
intrusive than those staying in hotels.

At the same time, interaction with tourists may promote pride in one's heritage. Both
daughters of the researcher's homestay family came home from university on weekends to
participate in dance performances. Residents often learn more about their culture in order to
explain it to others: the researcher often observed the father of the homestay family
explaining aspects of Balinese life to guests.

The growth of tourism in the banjar has been accompanied by new forms of interaction
among banjar members. The researcher observed that tourism development released social
forces harmful to banjar cohesion but, at the same time, traditional processes of banjar
interaction and cooperation were used to manage changes. For example, neighbours found
themselves in a competitive situation and several respondents mentioned the ill will resulting
from competition for business. When guests changed homestays, it was tempting to believe
that they had been enticed away by others.

At the same time, such tensions led to increased cooperation. With the realization that
tourism issues required attention, a banjar tourism organization was formed. The goals of the
organization were to coordinate promotion to increase the flow of tourists (one of the first
initiatives was to erect a large sign on a major tourist thoroughfare in an attempt to attract
visitors), to coordinate efforts to protect the environment, and to address issues of concern,
such as the in-migration of outsiders attracted by tourism opportunities.

THE IMPLICATIONS OF TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN BALI
There is a large and contentious literature concerning the impacts of tourism on Balinese
culture (Udayana University and Francillon 1975; Noronha 1976; McTaggert 1980; McKean
1989; Picard 1990a, 1990b). It is beyond the scope of this chapter to address this topic
adequately. However, some observations will be made specifically as they pertain to the
development of homestays and the architecture of traditional housing compounds, for
changes in building styles and composition is a topic which has not received much attention
in the literature.

In Bali, the layout of individual buildings, entire villages and, indeed, the whole island has
considerable cultural and religious significance. The typical Balinese village did not and does
not have a hotel. Exhortations to use indigenous architectural styles, to employ local raw
materials and to build no higher than a palm tree in hotel construction are sensible attempts to
maintail cultural and aesthetic continuity . The result is, inevitably, compromise between the
traditional and the contemporary in hotel construction, and a mixture of the spectacularly
appealing, the aesthetically mundane, and the largely inappropriate, reflecting to a great
extent the character of the site and the skills and sensitivity of the architect. Being smaller in
scale, homestays do not come under the regulations for hotels.

The cosmological foundations of the built heritage of Bali have been discussed at length by
Budihardjo (1986) and cannot be fully explored here. However, drawing largely upon the
work of Budihardjo, the layout and symbolism of the typical Balinese housing compound will
be described briefly because of the implications for conversion to commercial
accommodation and associated cultural concerns.

The typical Balinese extended family does not live in a house of western design. Rather, they
live in a rectangular, walled enclosure which is entered through an ornate gate (aling-aling)
which is constructed in a way which permits the passage of people but not evil spirits. Inside
the enclosure are a considerable amount of open space and a series of raised pavilions (bale),
each of which has a specific function, such as a sleeping area for the parents, another for
unmarried girls, a granary, a well, and a work area. The family temple occupies a prominent
place in one corner of the compound, usually in the corner farthest away from the gate and
the kitchen. The placement of the structures is of great significance. In line with the 'Nawa
Sanga' concept of cosmological orientation, and in contrast to compass directions, mountain-
sea and sunrise-sunset axes determine cosmological orientation. The most sacred area, the
family temple, is always placed in the direction of the holy mountain (kaja), usually Gunung
Agung, the volcanic peak which constitutes the highest point in the centre of Bali and the
abode of the supreme Gods, but in some places towards the nearest mountain which is clearly
visible. The dirtiest and most public places, such as the entrance gate, are located in the
direction of the sea (kelod), The result is that housing compounds in villages in different parts
of Bali will have different orientations reflecting their locations with reference to the sacred
mountain.

The considerable areas of open space in the home compounds and the partially walled
construction of the bale permit easy modification to meet changing needs and opportunities.
It is not difficult or very costly to erect an additional building or to modify existing structures
to accommodate visitors or to cater to tourists in other ways. The process of structural
modification and intensification of use can be seen in Peliatan but has gone farthest in Kuta
where it has been studied by Sulistyawati (1989) and Rahmi (1992). In Kuta, compounds
have been modified to house workers, to construct restaurants and to build shops, as well as
to accommodate visitors, In many cases, compound walls have been removed and, in some
situations, an additional floor has been added to what was previously single storey
construction. Examples of such structural modifications are shown in Figure 2.2. In this
figure, the kaja direction is north-east and hence the family temple is located in the top right-
hand corner of each compound.

Modifications such as those which have been described can result in a breakdown in the
Balinese architectural cosmology. For example, restaurants and shops catering to tourists
should, for economic reasons, ideally front on roads in order to take advantage of the passing
traffic, but, depending upon the orientation of the road, this may disrupt the traditional layout
of the compound. In a small number of cases, the family temple has been placed on the
second storey to permit more intensive use of the ground floor area. In such cases, since the
temple should be in touch with the ground, an 'umbilical cord' joining the temple to the earth
has been inserted into the new construction.

In Kuta, in particular, the convcrsion of housing compounds into tourist establishments of all
kinds has resulted in a variety of environmental consequences. Conversion to tourist
establishments has outpaced the construction of supporting infrastructure so that drainage,
sanitation, traffic congestion, and air and water pollution have become problematic. Although
piped water is available, many establishments continue to rely on wells and intensification of
uses has increased the pressures on natural systems so that there is a possibility that the
'sacred' places in compounds may be contaminated by the 'profane' locations of neighbours.
'Thus, the wells in one compound may be contaminated by the wastes generated in an
adjacent compound. At a different scale, and in other locations, linear development has
obscured the views along excursion routes which were originally designated to permit visitors
to travel from the southern resorts into the interior of the island to experience the landscape
aud culture.

Thus, it has been argued that the layout of the traditional Balinese housing compound has
facilitated conversion to supplementary tourist uses, including homestays. As such, it has
been an important factor enabling residents of Bali to become involved in tourism as
entrepreneurs and not merely as employees. However, conversion may have associated
cultural costs as the religious significance of the compound is compromised and, in extreme
cases such as in Kuta where land use has become particularly intensive, there also may be
negative environmental impacts.

CONCLUSIONS
It has been argued that it is simplistic to view tourism as an exogenous force impacting upon
a static destination area society. An analysis ol the evolution of tourism in Bali, Indonesia,
demonstrates that as tourism has expanded with considerable input from 'outsiders', residents
of Bali have found opportunities to participate in tourism development. Involvement has
occurred in a variety of ways and, in this chapter, is illustrated through an analysis of
homestays, a locally-owned and operated, small-scale form of tourist accommodation. It is
demonstrated that small-scale, indigenous, tourism development, which is advocated by
many proponents of 'appropriate' tourism, is not without associated problems and will require
compromises and trade-offs to be made. The nature of such tensions, is illustrated through a
discussion of the layout of Balinese housing compounds which facilitate conversion to
accommodate tourists but at a cost of reduced cultural significance and environmental
quality.