Background
The quintessence of Balinese culture, embodied in the dictum ‘adeng-adeng’ (a deliberate tempo), is increasingly obscured in contemporary Bali. This island, now replete with an expansive array of accommodations, including over 17,000 accommodations listed on Booking.com and 70,000 hotel rooms (Horwath HTL), has been widely characterised as ‘compromised,’ instigating searches for a ‘reimagined Bali’ and even an ambitious endeavour to create ‘ten new Bali.’
However, the culture of Bali, founded upon a bedrock of sustainable practices predating modern travel paradigms, endures. Long before ‘sustainability,’ ‘community,’ and ‘artisanal craftsmanship’ became prevalent, the Balinese people had cultivated a system of cultural and ecological stewardship, carefully filtering and seamlessly integrating external influences. This unique approach, rooted in familial structures and ritualistic piety, organically engendered a distinctive hospitality paradigm. The resultant landscape is a Bali where two parallel cultural spheres coexist, with dynamic interaction.
To ensure the perpetuation of this heritage, it is vital to discern and conserve the endangered elements of Balinese hospitality: familial-centric interactions, culturally driven development, communal services, and a profound reverence for the environment, emphasising the preservation of the surrounding landscape over the proliferation of hotel structures.
Paras
Paras emerged not as a founded entity, but as a discourse that began along Bali’s Sanur coastline in 2020, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. The conversations encompassed a broad spectrum, ranging from conventional topics like hotel architecture, artist residencies, hospitality, leisure, tourism, cultural identity, and exchange, to more specialised areas such as bioregionalism and regenerative farming.
The term ‘paras’ was selected to encapsulate these discussions, carrying multiple meanings in Bahasa Indonesia: ‘face’ or ‘surface,’ ‘decorative stone’ or ‘limestone,’ and ‘even’ or ‘balanced.’ Paras seeks to observe and celebrate Balinese wisdom and the natural transformations that surround it, with the intent to preserve the essence of Balinese hospitality culture for present and future generations.
Ultimately, Paras emphasises that ‘hospitality’ is fundamentally about human connection—hosting family, friends, and even strangers—and extending this care to cultural and natural environments, rather than merely focusing on hotels.