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Indonesia’s Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy held a press conference to announce plans to increase tourism taxes in Bali by more than 500%.
Bali’s political leaders are calling for a new tourist tax to be increased to $50 per person, but Uno feels this would jeopardize the island’s credibility.
Sandiaga Uno told reporters that raising Bali’s tourism tax from US$10 (IDR 150,000) to US$50 risks undermining the island’s credibility in the eyes of international holidaymakers and tourists.
“If we continue to change policies, it will call into question Indonesia’s credibility in the eyes of stakeholders and the world,” Uno told reporters.
“We need to convince tourists that paying $10 will make traveling to Bali and Indonesia as a whole a safe, comfortable, enjoyable and clean experience, and will preserve culturally-based tourism. That’s our first job before we tweak the existing policies. It’s not even six months old, it’s very new,” he added.
Minister Uno added, “Please allow the next administration to formulate policies after this study has been conducted and verified. However, I would like to reiterate that our country’s current tourism position has reached the top 20 in the world and is a high-quality, sustainable tourism industry. Please ensure that this increase in our country’s tourism does not actually have a negative impact.”
Minister Uno’s comments came in response to the local policy of IGK Kresna Budi, chairman of Bali Provincial DPRD Committee II, who called for the Bali Tourism Tax to be increased by more than 500% as soon as possible to attract quality tourists.
Doubling down on his comments from last week, Budi told reporters: “I want to raise it by $50 so we can spend on essentials. Why is Bali being sold so cheap? If you go to the UK you can get a visa for 5.7 million rupiah.”
In his initial statement, released on Wednesday (19 June), Budi explained that “we wanted to improve local tax regulations so that there would be higher quality tourists visiting Bali. That doesn’t mean they are not good.”
“This means that there will be a monitoring system called the tourist police and we will support it. The budget will also be used for tourism support, for tourists if something happens in Bali.”
He pointed out how tourists behaving disrespectfully or engaging in illegal activities in Bali impacts tourists, authorities and Balinese society at large.
“At times, some officers may have family matters and get carried away with dealing with tourists, but we hope that in the eyes of the world we remain a well-maintained community that is courteous to our guests,” Budi said.
Budi believes that the increase in Bali’s tourist tax alone will be a significant deterrent to foreigners wanting to misbehave on the island.
However, many Bali enthusiasts and tourism professionals quickly realized that there was not always a direct causal relationship between tourists’ budgets and behavior.
Budget tourists are not inherently annoying or illegal, just as high-budget tourists are not inherently well-behaved or polite.
Still, Budi explained, “When costs go up, quality automatically goes up. We hope everything works out. Bali doesn’t just belong to the Balinese, it belongs to everyone. Tourists love Bali too.”
Bali Acting Governor San Made Mahendra Jaya and Bali Tourism Board director Chok Bagus Pemayun confirmed that investigations are underway on whether, how and when to change the Bali Tourism Tax rate.
“That will be considered later. Let’s implement it (the US$10 tax) first. We are currently conducting an evaluation to optimize the tourism tax. We will make a decision together with the DPRD later. Please wait for the results of the evaluation,” Acting Governor Jaya told reporters.
