Travel trends in Bali are changing. Travel trends in Bali have been changing for a good long while in fact.
As tourists’ focus shifts further away from a classic resort hotel vacation and towards private villas and self-organised stays, leaders in Bali are concerned that the number of illegally operating accommodation options on the island has increased.
The former Chairman of the Bali Restaurant and Hotels Association, Gede Wiratha, remains a highly regarded figure in the tourism space in Bali.
Speaking to reporters about his observations of changing travel trends and shifts in the tourism industry, Wiratha feels that greater controls and stricter law enforcement are necessary to help protect tourists from fraudulent accommodation providers and to protect the economy against businesses operating illegally.
Wiratha shared “In Bali the famous thing right now is the villa. The villas are an attraction for tourists to come to Bali. No more is it hotels, and no more [is it] bars and restaurants. It’s the villas and the beach clubs.”
He noted that personally. He wants to see more people coming to Bali to engage with local culture, and to experience the Balinese way of life, rather than to stay in a private villa, physically separate and disconnected from the wider island itself.
The tourism veteran also shared that he has seen a rise in the number of villas and private holiday rental properties in Bali, and that he feels many are operating outside of the law. The violations he is concerned with is villas being build without the correct permits, and without formal registration, and therefore not making sufficient tax contributions.
He is not pointing the finger at international villa owners, but also calling at Balinese and Indonesian business owners who have set up their own private villas and tourism businesses after years of working in the tourism industry themselves. Wiratha is calling for a collaborative effort from all private accommodation owners in Bali to ensure that the sector is operating above board.
Wirtatha explained “Now they (local tourism works) have understood. By building just four rooms, you can live for six months. It’s better for them to work in their own villa than to work in someone else’s accommodation.”
He is calling for there to be changes in the way in which small private accommodation providers, such as tourism villa businesses, are regulated in Bali.
Wiratha said “It is not only the provincial government that should manage it, let alone the district-city government. It should be managed by the central government.”
The current Head of the Bali Restaurant and Hotels Association, I Gusti Ngurah Rai Suryawijaya, echoed Wiratha’s observations and noted that cost plays a huge factor in tourists’ accommodation choices.
With tourists traveling on smaller budgets, wanting to max out on value for money, villas, and small private guest houses are deemed by many to offer greater privacy, greater freedom, and greater affordability.
Suryawijaya explained “I monitor the condition on the field, the guests who come at this time are middle low guests. Many stay in private villas, condotels, apartments, and even many in guest houses and home stays. Not to a 4 or 5 star hotel because they want the cost of a shoestring budget. Well that’s what’s happening now.”
He raised concerned that this is creating tax loses and noted that illegal subletting villas is also on the rise.
Suryawijaya explained “Some [villas] are also managed by foreigners individually and marketed directly [to foreigners]. For example, there are some local people from my area renting out a 3 bedroom villa. Sold for IDR 3 million to IDR 5 million per month to foreign guests. Foreign guests sell again to their guests for IDR 3 million per night.”
As stipulated in Governor Koster’s “Circular Letter (SE) No. 07 of 2025 concerning New Regulations for Foreign Tourists During Their Stay in Bali” all tourists to Bali are obliged by law to “stay in licensed accommodation”.
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Steve bm
Monday 7th of April 2025
Alot of its word of mouth mate of a mate no books to book keep perfect wages . 20 years too late but hey just deport them and fine the nominees then sell off the villas etc to a slush fund for the bigwigs that make the decisions surely they deserve it
Karen
Sunday 6th of April 2025
Regular Balinese cant afford to build a villa for renting. And if they do, they cant be bothered with the daily renting of it. So that is why non Balinese fill this void. Without them there wouldnt be villas. The whole industry would collapse.
Viktor Z
Saturday 12th of April 2025
@Karen,
Nonsense, Balinese have been building ‘villas’ for decades to accommodate tourists and using these days all kind of booking platforms ..
Steve bm
Monday 7th of April 2025
@Karen, not sure about that
Alechio Da Kat
Sunday 6th of April 2025
The "best hotels" in Bali - the Mulia and Kempinski have access to their own private beach - Purah Geger and Nico. They are surrounded by a closed gated community. Why? Because the big hotels want all their guests to be confined to within their pay rails. Now as a Bali citizen you are entitled to use that beach. Do the hotels open the gated community to let you access the beach? Or do they ask some crazy price to access that a local will never be able to afford? These hotels don't want the community to get access to guests for a fraction of the cost they charge. The wages they pay are great for a local but a fraction of what they pay overseas.
Do you really want these people to control tourism and the local economy?
Think about what you vote for and ask yourself why the same story appear in the media again and again. A very emotional story. It's going to get you to react. But do you really want what they offer? And who is pushing the story? The hotel brand ambassador?
Think about what you want?
Mark Formston
Sunday 6th of April 2025
It's all about the money, isn't it? I don't think Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, or maybe even Singapore, care where tourists stay while on holiday. If Bali is afraid foreign investors are buying, then renting villas to visitors, don't let them buy property here!! Bali has been for sale for too long. Now bule investors own it.
Steve bm
Monday 7th of April 2025
@Mark Formston, not only buying them it's been a full time business building them
Alechio Da Kat
Sunday 6th of April 2025
Why shouldn't local people work for themselves? An SLF to register a Villa for tourism costs 100 million IDR. 10k AUD. I kid you not. What local can afford that? A PBG costs the same for building. That's 200 mill IDR all up per Villa. Beware of hypocrites like this who effectively push large corporations rights over local people. They are paid off by the large hotels that vandalize the environment with their massive oversized development and then siphon all profits out to their corporate hq.
How did the Pertaminta monopoly go for subsidised and Pertamax fuel? Oh that's right the CEO was arrested for fraud and corruption for selling cheap fuel at the expensive price.
Wake up Bali. Stop the creeping authoritarian and protect your life.