Tourism Minster Wants To Make Bali Hong-Kong Style Economic Hub

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Indonesia’s Minister for Tourism and Creative Economies has been speaking to the media about novel ways to raise funds to help boost the country’s tourism economy.

Minister Sandiaga Uno wants to see the newly introduced Golden Visa used to encourage more investment from wealthy family offices. 

Speaking to the press at the World Water Forum which is taking place in Bali, Minister Uno explained “I will calculate what the initial target is and what kind of regulations we need to present.” He wants to see the investment from these family offices to be centralised in Bali.

In Minister Uno’s mind, the principle of attracting investment from family offices brings two fold benefits. Indonesia, and Bali specifically has more capital to work with to implement the much needed improvements to island infrastructure, and staff and families with these investment funds will be able to reside in Bali, or elsewhere in Indonesia for up to 10 years. 

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Minister Uno will be targeting investment from family offices based in Singapore, Malaysia, Monaco, London, Hong Kong and Dubai. He wants to see long term and sustainable investment in Bali and Indonesia more broadly. 

Minister Uno said, “So the length of stay is very long. Second, they bring in funding so the sustainability is more pronounced, and this fits very well with the Golden Visa concept.” 

He added, “We encourage Bali to become a hub (center) for family offices like Hong Kong and Singapore.”

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While many will praise Minister Uno for his calls for more long term and sustainable investment in Bali, and the move to encourage more people to take up the opportunity to apply for the Golden Visa, Minister Uno’s comments may not be well received by all tourism stakeholders in Bali. 

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Tourism experts and leaders in Bali have been speaking to the media in recent weeks to re-table the idea of creating a Special Tourism Authority and the development of Bali as a Special Autonomous Region for Tourism.

Tourism economist Viraguna Bagoes Oka has been vocal in his calls for urgent spatial planning investigation and for existing planning and construction rules to be implemented to the letter of the law.

Oka told reporters, “Bali is being invaded by investors with uncontrolled investors.” He noted how the conversation around the creation of a moratorium has been on the table for well over a decade but that it has been hard to push the idea through due to the wider political climate in Indonesia. 

Oka continued, “It should be at the provincial level, the initial spirit. As a result, the integrated command is difficult to achieve because local governments act on their own, not prioritizing the principles of sustainable tourism.”

Speaking separately, the Chairman of the Indonesian Agrotourism Association, Bagus Sudibya, explained how he feels the conversations around the creation of a moratorium should be approached moving forward.

He wants to really focus on the spatial planning element of the moratorium. He explained how Bali is approx 5,600 km sq with a permanent population of 4.7 million people, in addition to tourists.

He wants to see spatial planning executed in such a way that is fair for everyone. 

Sudibya said “in terms of implementing the moratorium, we will pause for a moment, but within that pause there will be a pause for development. Meanwhile, there it starts with calculations, how do we calcite so that we can find a clear formation, how ideally for Bali we should have a set number of tourists arriving, how long they stay and the number of rooms or tourism facilities available so that ideal number comes out.”