Gili Trawangan is changing, for a better future. For the past years, this beautiful 15Km2 island has seen its beach being slowly taken away from visitors. About 140 businesses have illegally built on the beach: restaurants, bars and shops settled, in violation of the local coastline building rules, resulting in an almost complete private access to it.
Now the government has finally decided to end it all. A deadline has been given to all businesses, and by the end of February 2017 the beach must be cleared of all buildings!
So each business has started to take their construction down. After the deadline, an excavator has been brought to the island to clear up what was left. The rubbles have slowly been removed from the beach, and been used for construction.
Here we are now, May 2017, and we can see the delightful result: free access to wide areas on the beach for everyone!! No more private access to the beautiful beach where you needed to buy a drink to be able to enjoy the public beach! Sunbeds are still available at some places, for a fee or if you order a drink. Tables and chairs from restaurants are only allowed after 5pm, and must be removed before early morning.
This actually come at a perfect time when monsoon ends and gives place to clear blue sky. Tourists from all around the world can enjoy the beautiful white sand beaches of Gili Trawangan.
Come and see by yourself!
Now the next improvement of our beachfront will be the construction of two roads: one for the circulation of cidomos (horse cart), and one for pedestrians. This will be a huge positive change as the actual single road is subject to messy traffic when the island gets busy.