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Resty Woro Yuniar

As concerns mount in Bali that the high volume of budget-conscious tourists is threatening the Indonesian island’s economy and reputation, officials are being urged to consider a drastic shift towards a Bhutan-style tourism model that would require visitors to pay a hefty fee.
I Wayan Puspa Negara, head of the Bali Marginal Tourism Actors Alliance, recently proposed charging foreign visitors a daily fee.
To visit Bhutan, tourists, except Indians, must pay a fixed daily charge – called the Sustainable Development Fee – of US$100 per person, although that amount has been dropped from US$250 before the pandemic. Tourists are also obliged to hire a guide, driver and transport from any official tour agency.
“Foreign tourists who come to Bali must be selected, like in Bhutan,” said Puspa Negara, who is also a regional lawmaker at the House of Representatives in Bali’s Badung regency.
“They select tourists from a spending perspective. It’s the same as when [Indonesians] go to the US, Europe or Britain. The first requirement [for visa applicants] is that they must have a minimum amount of savings. If you don’t have it, they won’t give you a visa.”
Bali’s governor Wayan Koster has previously floated the idea of a Bhutan-style approach in 2023, saying he “ideally would like Bali to be like Bhutan”, where tourists are strictly limited to 400,000 per year.

Bali Senator Ni Luh Djelantik – who regularly posts about foreigners’ misbehaviour on social media – has also backed tougher tourist filtering, citing examples of policies in “France or Bhutan”.
The majority Hindu island, famed for its green landscape, pristine beaches and exotic culture, was visited by 6.3 million foreign tourists last year, exceeding its own 4.5 million habitants.
While tourism is the lifeblood of Bali’s economy, not all visitors are big spenders, which has become a point of friction among locals, particularly small and medium business owners.
Daily newspaper Media Indonesia reported on February 15 that some groups of “low-class foreign tourists” were seen bargaining “loudly” only to buy less than 1kg of fruit, as well as sitting at food kiosks for hours on end at the Kedongan fish market in Badung, south Bali.
A food stall owner named Mrs Wayan was so irked that she kicked a group of foreigners out of her stall.
“They don’t shop. They just buy a glass of iced tea, then sit, chat and date for hours. They will block other customers who want to eat here. I usually chase them away. This has become a normal [sight] here,” she said.
“This is the face of Bali tourism, many foreigners are like this. They often shop at traditional markets and do lots of bargaining [with sellers].”

The Balinese have monikers for these cost-conscious foreigners: turis sandal jepit, or flip-flop wearing tourists, and wisatawan receh, or small change tourists.
“Flip-flop tourists is a term for tourists who have a tight or insufficient budget when visiting Bali,” said Ida Bagus Raka Suardana, an economic and business lecturer at National Education University in Bali’s capital of Denpasar.
“They do not contribute much to society. They usually choose cheap accommodation, they walk [everywhere], they eat street food, they use public transport. There are pros and cons about this type of backpacker.”
Copying Bhutan?
While Raka Suardana credited carefree budget travellers with introducing Bali to the world, he said the same class of tourist – which still dominated the island despite the growing number of luxury hotels and resorts – had become its bane.
“Hippies introduced Bali to the international world. They didn’t cause much trouble in the past. They came here to enjoy nature, they lived in people’s homes, and they directly contributed to the local population,” he said.
“Now many of them are causing trouble. They cause commotion in bars, they drive motorbikes recklessly and without wearing clothes, they do not respect local wisdom, this is what we often see. Last year during [Balinese Day of Silence] Nyepi, they roamed the beach, without paying attention to the prohibitions and Balinese customs.”
While Raka Suardana said it might be “rather extreme” for Bali to apply Bhutan’s exact tourism model, he supported the idea of “selecting visitors based on their income”.


Puspa Negara and Raka Suardana were quick to add that not all backpackers were troublemakers, noting that many contributed to Bali’s economy by hiring local services and staying at family-owned guest houses.
Bali still welcomed “middle- to low-income” tourists, Puspa Negara said, but suggested officials strengthen law enforcement and monitoring to prevent the rise of bad behaviour. International airlines could also warn travellers about Bali’s dos and don’ts list – issued in 2023 – before they headed to the island, Puspa Negara added.
Officials could also impose a tourism levy of 150,000 rupiah (US$9.20) at the Bali airport, Raka Suardana said. The levy, first introduced in February last year, has seen the island collect 317 billion rupiah (US$19.3 million) as of December, lower than the minimum target of 750 billion rupiah due to low compliance.
For now, the struggle to rein in misbehaving visitors in Bali is likely to continue. The latest viral incident occurred earlier this month, where an Australian man was detained by Balinese police for assaulting security staff at Finns Beach Club in Badung regency.
Other incidents involving foreign tourists include the development of a law-breaking “Russian Village” in Ubud, people stripping naked in holy temples, and tourists misusing their visa to work on the island. From January to September last year, 412 unlawful foreigners were deported from Bali, according to data from the island’s immigration agency.


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Officials are urged to look at tougher measures to ‘select’ tourists, such as Bhutan’s requirement for most travellers to pay a fixed daily charge


Officials are urged to look at tougher measures to ‘select’ tourists, such as Bhutan’s requirement for most travellers to pay a fixed daily charge.


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Bhutan

Will Indonesia’s Bali adopt a Bhutan-style levy to deter ‘low-class foreign tourists’?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Officials are urged to look at tougher measures to ‘select’ tourists, such as Bhutan’s requirement for most travellers to pay a fixed daily charge

Officials are urged to look at tougher measures to ‘select’ tourists, such as Bhutan’s requirement for most travellers to pay a fixed daily charge