Affinity Tourism, Cultural Identity and Globalism: The Gwk Park, Chinese and Indian Tourists in Bali

China and India are the biggest growing tourism outbound markets in the world. It is estimated that in 2030 almost a quarter of all international tourism comes from China. In Bali, with its ever growing tourism industry, the percentage of Chinese and Indian tourist grew with more than 40 % in the last year. Bali has since long offered tourists a cultural experience and the government relied on the concept on ‘cultural tourism’, to manage the tourism flow. Despite predictions of ‘over-tourism’ and ‘disneyfication’ - which would demolish Balinese ‘authentic’ culture - Bali has shown to be a versatile and dynamic brand. While confronted with the drawbacks of globalisation, economic crisis and terrorist attacks, it succeeded in integrating demands from the global tourism industry, while maintaining an ‘authentic image’ of its own unique Hindu cultural identity. Today there are many different ways in which ‘Bali’ can represent itself to the world and serve different categories of tourists.

However, the impact of the recent Asian tourism boom – and in particular Chinese and Indian tourists- to Bali’s touristic hotspots has yet to be examined. This research proposal aims to use the new concept of Asian ‘Affinity Tourism’ in conjunction with the older concept of ‘cultural (heritage) tourism’ to study how 1) Chinese and Indian tourists are influenced in their movements in Bali, their expectations and opinions of their travels 2) How the narrative of a ‘Balinese culture’ alters in the tourism industry 3) As a result, how Balinese identity changes under new currents of global tourism and how local and national interests are conflicting with Asian- global- tourism. As a starting point, the research will use the case study of Bali’s newest landmark, the recent opened GWK Park. We believe that the Park and the Garuda Wisnu Kencana statue is a excellent case study because it embodies all the important antagonisms of Bali’s  touristic developments over the last years: those between localism and national heritage culture, and those between global tourism demand versus the nationalist intentions of cultural tourism. The research will result in an English peer-reviewed academic article in a leading international Journal as in a research report in Bahasa Indonesia that will be made available through open access.