82% Of Tourists Feel Safe In Bali But Scams Are Serious Concern

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Bali is ranked as the best travel destination in the world for 2026, by TripAdvisor. Here at The Bali Sun, we agree, though we might be biased. We love this island, its culture, its nature, and the people, and we, of course, recommend that everyone come and visit.

We are also realists, and journalists, we take a pragmatic stance on what travel really looks like in Bali in 2026, and while the vast majority of tourists feel safe, there is one issue that is cropping up more than usual. 

Here at The Bali Sun, we have teamed up with our partners over at Travel Off Path to create the Traveler Safety Index. This new traveler-driven tool utilizes real-time, subjective user feedback to generate safety scores for every destination in the world. The Travel Safety Index uses a Hybrid Verification Model.

While our proprietary algorithm calculates real-time sentiment based on recency, every single data trend is subject to a Mandatory 24-Hour Editorial Audit. What this means is that real humans (e.g., our editorial team) review the data spikes every single day to ensure anomalies—like bot attacks or viral misinformation—are filtered out before they impact the final safety grade.

This, combined with our on-the-ground reporting and meta-analysis of all local news outlets, government announcements, citizen journalists, and community news accounts, means that we have access to a fully comprehensive picture of the safety situation in Bali at any given moment.

Like our news reporting, the Traveler Safety Index is not generated or even influenced by AI. Our daily news articles and Travel Safety Index are 100% human, and always will be. 

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Travellers must be aware that the Bali Sun Traveler Safety Index is different from a government advisory. Government advisories are diplomatic tools that assess broad, long-term risks (like terrorism or kidnapping). These advisories rarely capture the day-to-day reality of tourism areas.

A city or whole country might be “Level 4: Do Not Travel” due to events in a remote province, while the tourist center is perfectly calm. Our tool captures the Tourist Experience, not the geopolitical one. We recommend checking both our tool and official government advisories for a complete picture.

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Bali is one of the safest and most welcoming destinations on earth. This is just one of the reasons why more than 7 million international tourists visit each year, with a notable proportion of these tourists returning visitors.

While violent crime is minimal, and theft is comparatively low, the highest reported incidents of safety violations are related to scams.

The Traveler Safety Index for Bali currently sits at a stable 82. Over the last 30 days, there have been two reports of assault and two reports of theft. There have been 22 reports of tourists being scammed. 

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This is a serious issue, and scams have been the most prominent reported crimes against tourists in Bali for over a decade.

These scams range from tourists being charged entry to free public beaches, to being overcharged for parking, through to the most common and widely reported scam of the last decade, the money exchange scam.

Due to the risk of crime in top tourism resort areas in Bali, such as Canggu, Kuta, Legian, Seminyak, and Uluwatu, increased police patrols have been deployed across these areas, day and night.

One key observation we have made here at The Bali Sun is the discrepancy between what we are seeing reported on the Traveler Safety Index and what the police are reporting. Which begs the question, do tourists report crimes as they happen?

Tourists must report any incident of crime or scam to Bali Police or security officials as quickly as possible.

Leaders in Bali are committed to stamping out crime in tourism areas, but can only do so if they have sufficient evidence to work with.

Tourists will see an increased police presence in top resort areas and nightlife zones in Bali over the coming weeks. Police have been conducting surveillance patrols as well as stop and searches. 

Last week, First Inspector Ni Nyoman Ayu Inastuti, the Head of the Public Relations Sub-Division of the Badung Police, explained to reporters, “During January, seven foreign nationals reported being victims. The cases varied, including assault, vandalism, fraud, and aggravated theft, and assault.”

Adding “If there is a public order disturbance, report it immediately to the nearest police station or via the National Police Call Center at 110.”

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