16. Making Place for Cultural Legacies, Creative Culture, and Tourism Development: Raging Depletion of Green Open Space in Bali

The contradicting impacts of tourism on culture have been well recognized. It nourishes traditions as well as encourages creative culture on one hand, but often destructive to the prolonged existence of cultural heritage on the other hand. The latter is especially true when tourism grows without regulatory enforcement, and when it favors short-term monetary gains, rather than sticking to long-term and sustainable objectives. Taking this circumstance into a discussion, this article investigates the rampant depletion of culturally strategic green open space (GOS) in Bali to provide rooms for tourism-related activities. It especially studies the consequences of this situation and how to enable protection of cultural heritages as well as how to maintain creative cultures – the two inherent resources for the survival of Bali’s tourism. This paper is structured into three main sections. It first discusses the complexity of GOS and their significances. Second, it examines the process of deculturalization caused by prevalent conversions of such spaces, while the last section studies the impacts the whole situation brings to the longevity of both culture and tourism development on the Island.