CHAPTER 03 ISLAND VOICE • VOLUME 02
Moving with the Island: Ita and Kinara Nusa Tour
From hotel work and motorbike journeys to cars and sea based services, Ita built Kinara Nusa Tour by learning how the islands move.
- August 10, 2026
- 6 Minutes Read
Ita came to Nusa Lembongan and Ceningan in 2013 and began by working in hospitality. Two years later, she started taking guests around by motorbike. Kinara Nusa Tour grew from that practical experience, one service at a time, into a transport and tour business operating across land and sea.
Learning through movement
Hotel work placed Ita close to the questions visitors ask first. How do we get there? How long will it take? What happens if the weather changes? Which route makes sense today? Transport on a small island is rarely only about moving from one point to another. It is also about reassurance and timing.
In 2015, while still working in hospitality, Ita began taking guests around by motorbike. It was a small operation, but every journey taught her how visitors experienced the same roads, beaches and villages. It also revealed where a more organised service could make island movement easier.
From motorbikes to a wider service
In 2017, Ita formally expanded into land transport using cars under the Kinara Nusa Tour name. By 2018, the business was serving Nusa Ceningan more widely and had added sea based services connected with snorkelling. Each step followed demand she had already seen through direct work with guests.
This gradual expansion is common in island businesses. One service creates a relationship. That relationship reveals another gap. Growth comes from being close enough to notice what people need and flexible enough to respond without losing reliability.
The route changes with the conditions
Transport around Nusa Lembongan and Ceningan is shaped by more than distance. Some arrivals take place directly on the beach, so waves can change the safest landing point and timing. On Nusa Ceningan, steep or damaged roads can also affect vehicle choice, travel time and what is comfortable for a guest.
For Ita, these conditions are part of the service. Local knowledge becomes operational judgement. It helps protect the guest experience, but it also supports drivers, boat crews and accommodation teams who depend on accurate coordination.
Starting again after 2020
In 2020, the visitor economy stopped and so did much of Kinara Nusa Tour’s work. When travel returned, Ita described the experience as starting the business again. Demand, staffing, confidence and operating conditions all had to be rebuilt.
Kinara Nusa Tour rebuilt through the same method that shaped its earlier growth: listening, adapting and staying close to the practical movement of the islands. For Ita, resilience was not a slogan. It was the repeated work of beginning again without losing the local knowledge built since 2013
Watching the islands develop
Since 2013, Ita has watched empty land give way to more villas, accommodation and visitor activity, particularly in the hills. Growth creates work for local transport and hospitality businesses, but it also adds pressure to roads, access points and public services.
In her interview, Ita identifies waste as one of the islands’ biggest unresolved problems. She believes the islands need a more reliable way to sort, reduce and process what growing activity leaves behind. For her, protecting the relaxed character of the islands depends on managing growth, not only welcoming more arrivals.
More than a transfer
Ita also introduces guests to seaweed farming and local culture. These moments change the role of transport. A driver or guide becomes part of how a visitor understands what they are seeing, who works there and why a place should be treated with care.
Kinara Nusa Tour is therefore not only a story of vehicles and routes. It is a story about how hospitality, movement and local interpretation can grow together when the business is built from direct experience.
Why this Island Voice matters
For visitors, a smooth transfer may feel simple. Ita’s story reveals the system underneath it: weather, road condition, landing points, vehicle choice, staff coordination and trust between businesses.
For investors and hospitality operators, these are not minor operational details. They shape what can be promised, how guests experience the islands and whether a new service can work reliably in practice.
For local businesses, Island Voice creates room to explain the knowledge behind the service. The purpose is not to turn Ita into an advertisement. It is to make her experience visible and show why local operators belong in any serious understanding of the island economy.