$3.9 Million Collected In Bali Tourism Fees But Travelers Frustrated With Payment App

Share The Article

Leaders in Bali have confirmed that the first round of funds generated from the newly introduced Tourism Tax Levy will be integrated into the Provincial Government’s Annual Budget (APBD).

The Bali Province General Secretary, Dewa Made Indra, confirmed that the 2024 revised budget would direct tax funds toward cultural protection and environmental conservation. 

According to the Acting Governor of Bali, Sang Made Mahendra Jaya, the Bali Provincial Government has collected IDR 64.75 billion (USD 3.9 million) in tourism tax revenue since the policy was introduced on the 14th of February 2024.

While nearly $4 million seems like a significant amount of money, it is only a fraction of what was anticipated to be collected during these first few months.

As many as 60% of all international arrivals have been failing to pay their mandatory tourism tax fee. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Wonderful Indonesia (@wonderfulindonesia)

Acting Governor Jaya told the press, “This is still below what was expected, so one day it only collected IDR 1 billion, which is still small.”

“That’s why we asked the Head of the Satpol PP and then the Head of the Tourism Office and friends to help carry out random checks to ensure compliance by foreign tourists paying the foreign tourist levy because this is an obligation.”

The Acting Governor also acknowledged that this is a new policy and that maybe not all tourists are aware of their new obligations.

He noted that he does not want to have to instruct officials to force payment and that this period of grace is a chance to better communicate the tourism tax levy with incoming tourists. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sang Made Mahendra Jaya (@smahendrajaya89)

Despite initial plans for the Tourism Tax Levy to be a mandatory payment on arrival, to offer more flexibility, the legislation was changed, and tourists must pay their fees before they leave Bali.

This was to help reduce queue times at Bali Airpot. However, it seems that the flexibility has allowed tourists to get away with dodging the fee altogether.

Not to mention that those who opted not to pay at the airport and rather pay online via the LoveBali app and website have been having nothing but headaches with the platform. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Wonderful Indonesia (@wonderfulindonesia)

Acting Governor Jaya explained, “We imagined that people arriving on flights had flown for hours from aboard so they’d have to queue for VoA, queue for immigration, queue for customs plus queue to pay fees, wow they’d become [unwilling] to come to Bali.”

“So the previous Governor’s Regulations stipulated that the fees should be paid at the airport; we have changed it. We can expect to be paid for before arriving, and Astungkara [with hope] that mostly tourists pay before arriving, and then with the option at the airport, we can still prepare and facilitate that.”

Yet, time and time again, the LoveBali website is displaying error messages, and that is if the page loads at all. The site mostly displays a server error message and is not loading at all.

Tourists are growing increasingly frustrated, and with that frustration grows an unwillingness to support the new initiative, with many questioning how funds will be used if the Provincial Government is struggling to keep a straightforward payment platform website up and running. 

Moving forward, the Acting Governor wants to see tourist attractions checking tourism tax levy vouchers before selling entry tickets to tourists.

While spot checks are underway by the Tourism Satpol Police Unit, Acing Governor Jaya wants to see more support coming from tourism attractions on the island.

Jaya said, “If they have not paid the tourist attraction entry, they are not served, [the same should be true of the levy]. If they have not paid the levy, it is written in our regional regulations, they will not be served.”

Moving forward it is advisable for tourists to Bali to pay at the counter on arrival at I Gusti Ngruah Rai International Airport, new kiosks will be opened at the domestic arrivals hall soon too for those who have landed elsewhere in Indonesia before traveling into Bali; remember this is a tax only applicable in Bali Province.

To be on the safe side, it’s advisable to have the LoveBali app downloaded so that if asked for a tourism tax voucher and you’re unable to show one, you can, at the very least, say that you’ve been trying and that the platform is not responding.