New Tourism Control Team To Be Deployed In Bali

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As the battle to crack down on unruly tourists in Bali continues, more officers will be deployed in the most popular resorts to help keep an eye on things.

A Tourism Task Force, known as the Bali Becik Task Force, has already been deployed by the Director General of Immigration for Indonesia, as well as teams under the command of the provincial government. But this week it has been announced another team will be assigned to monitor tourist behavior.

The Bali Civil Service, Saptol PP, will be creating a Tourism Task Force all of their own. Following in the footsteps of Surabaya, Bali will be creating a Bali Tourism Saptol PP unit.

The Chairman of the Badung Regency DPRD, Made Ponda Wirawan, said that the idea has been on the table for some time, and now resources are aligning to bring the unit to the streets. 

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Wirawan told reporters, “It is very urgent and very important that we in Badung also have a Tourism Satpol PP. Moreover, the behavior of the foreign tourists who are now present in Badung Regency is not all the same and some are a little viral.”

Bali is managed as nine regencies: Badung, Tabanan, Jembrana, Bulelng, Gianyar, Bangli, Karangasem, Klungkung, and Denpasar. Badung Regency is the busiest and most developed for tourism.

The regency is home to iconic vacation destinations like Kuta, Legian, Seminyak, Canggu, Jimbaran, and Uluwatu.

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Wirawan has confirmed that the Bali Tourism Saptol PP team will be deployed in early 2024. The officers in the team will be tasked with supervising and conducting general security operations in Badung’s busiest reports.

Officers chosen for the team must have a good command of English and will be required to be a point of contact for tourists in need of support or information. 

Wirawan continued to explain, “The 2024 plan can already be implemented in each region. We will assign people to each Tourist Attractions (DTW), and we will utilize the staff we have.”

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He added, “We will prioritize busy tourist attractions first, for example Kuta Beach, Pandawa Beach and Pecatu. This means that there are at least two in South Kuta, two in Kuta, and two in North Kuta.”

Each unit of the Bali Tourism Saptol PP will be made up of 6-10 officers, and areas with high volumes of tourists will be assigned at least two teams. 

This is another clear sign from officials in Bali that they are not messing around when it comes to tourists behaving badly. There has been a sharp rise in the number of foreigners conducting illegal and/or culturally disrespectful behavior this year.

While Bali is on track to hit 6 million international arrivals this year and the percentage of bad tourists remains small when viewed on a macro level, the number of cases is rising, especially when compared to before the pandemic.

What’s more, both the authorities and local communities are sick and tired of having to deal with unruly foreigners disrespecting local customs and sites of spiritual significance. 

The Bali Tourism Civil Service Units are just one of a long line of interventions the authorities are putting in place to help tackle the issue and ensure that well-behaved tourists in Bali still have an enjoyable and memorable stay.

The Central Government, via the Director General of Immigration, has deployed the Bali Becik Task Force which has been ordered to conduct at least 100 immigration control missions every month until December.

These operations have resulted in verbal warnings, fines, and in some cases even deportation from Indonesia and subsequent blacklisting. 

There is also a new app where tourism businesses and local people can report bad behavior by foreigners as well as a dedicated hotline for more urgent cases.