Land Conversion Analysis in Buleleng District, Bali: An Outlook for Sustainable Tourism Development

Abstract

Buleleng District, Buleleng Regency, Bali is one of the main tourism destinations that offer various types of tourism activities. This region is also included in one of the National Tourism Strategic Areas which will intensify tourism activities and induce land conversion from non-built-up to built-up area to satisfy tourism sector demands. Departing from that background, this paper aims to analyze the land conversion that happens and study the impacts as the foundation in contextualizing sustainable tourism management to this case. For the land conversion analysis, Sentinel-2 satellite imageries capturing 2017 and 2022 images are used and the classification is done using the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin in QGIS. As a result, satellite imageries show that there was land conversion happening with Banyuasri, Beratan, and Ligundi Villages having the highest land conversion proportion. Land conversion impacts tourists’ thermal comfort and disrupts food security as many agricultural areas were converted. As the paddy field holds a crucial role in the culture of the Buleleng Resident, it may also impact the cultural institution. Sustainable tourism development will control the land conversion and mitigate the negative impact and can be deployed together with the adat institution approach.