Trump's failed golf resort turns out to be pipe dream

The real estate mogul and future US president, TANAH LOT, Indonesia: Beer bottles and broken plastic chairs litter the fairways of a deelict golf course on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali, where lay-off workers lament the unfulfilling promises of a Donald Trump dream project Nearly a decade ago, the world's best golf resort, Nirwana Golf Resort, is a six-star holiday destination.

The golf course is filled with weeds today, another failed project for Trump, whose six casino and hotel bankruptcies spanning two decades have run up billions of dollars in debt and impacted thousands of lives.

There was no clarity about our future. We heard that we would be re-recruited but it never happened, said Ditta Dwi, a 26 year old former caddy who was forced to take a waitressing job while waiting for a reopening that never came.

The Trump OrganizationTrump Organization and Indonesian developer MNC Group shut down the resort in 2017 and laid off hundreds of workers after partnering to rebrand the Nirwana, which boasts idyllic views of the Indian Ocean.

Donald Trump JrTrump Jr's son Donald Trump JrTrump Jr visited Jakarta on a 2019 visit to the country's biggest economy and said that the planned redevelopment was his first venture into Southeast Asia's biggest economy.

Trump's deal to license his name to the new resort and help it operate it - first struck in 2015 - has turned out to be a pipe dream for Indonesian workers.

Five years after sending staff home, the hotel sits demolished and its course defunct, its forlorn fairways the domain of a solitary security guard who wheeled around on a cart, warding off tourists.

The derelict, overgrown and empty site is a far cry from the luxury image that Trump long maintained for his real estate interests before setting his sights on the White House.

The property magnate, who recently announced he will seek the presidency again in 2024, is no stranger to colossal flops.

Between 1991 and 2009 his casino and hotel projects fell into bankruptcy six times.

The first to fail, the Trump Taj Mahal in the beachside gambling mecca of Atlantic City, New Jersey, threatened Trump's personal fortune. He had to sell his yacht, private jet and half of his shares to cover some of the casino's debts.