NORTH LOMBOK, Indonesia — The ongoing clean water supply outage across the Gili Islands has pushed local tourism operators into critical operational distress during the peak holiday season, with multiple hospitality establishments facing imminent temporary closures, industry representatives warned Tuesday.
Lalu Kusnawan, Chairman of the Gili Hotel Association (GHA), confirmed on September 8, 2026, that at least five hotels are preparing to suspend operations temporarily due to the week-long utility disruption across the popular resort destination.
”As of last night, I confirmed that approximately five hotels will temporarily cease operations,” Kusnawan stated. “Three of them are guaranteed to shut down if clean water distribution is not restored by tomorrow.”
The operational halts come amid high occupancy rates across Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno, and Gili Air, compounding financial losses for resort owners and impacting hundreds of international and domestic tourists. The crisis follows environmental enforcement actions and regulatory hurdles that previously shut down major groundwater extraction and desalination facilities serving the island group.
Hospitality operators have urged provincial and central government authorities to expedite temporary discretionary approvals to reactivate existing water distribution networks and prevent broader damage to the regional tourism economy.
