As leaders in Indonesia look to pass new legislation to better control how tourism is developed in the province, tourism business owners are looking to other international travel hotspots to learn effective ways to mitigate the risks of overtourism.
While South Bali is on the brink of experiencing overtourism, so too are many of the world’s most famous travel destinations, and everyone has lessons to share and learn.
The Belgian city of Bruges has just introduced a new policy that will help crack down on the rising number of short-term vacation rental properties in the historical city center.
The new policy will also legislate against the creation of new hotels in the city.
The city is taking decisive action against a sharp rise in the number of visitors to help mitigate disaster in the long run.
Bruges welcomed over 8.2 million tourists in 2023, which is far above the city’s actual population of just 120,000 people. Bruges, like Venice and Barcelona, is amongst the most popular cities in all of Europe for travelers, and the sheer volume of visitors is starting to have a negative impact. A problem is being seen across Bali.
In a press interview, the Mayor of Bruges, Dirk De Fauw, explained, “People have started indicating that there are just too many visitors. If we just let everyone do what they want, things will quickly go wrong.”
This sentiment will resonate viscerally with many Bali residents who are often stuck in hours and hours of tourism-related traffic congestion as they try to go about their business, to name just one negative implication of overtourism.
Bruges, unlike most of Bali’s biggest resorts, receives a huge number of daytrippers.
Mayor De Fauw explained that he did not want to introduce taxes on daytrippers but that a similar model could be explored.
He noted, “We cannot and do not want to control access to the city, like in Dubrovnik or Venice. The influx of tourists brings economic benefits, but it also places tremendous pressure on the city’s infrastructure and community.”
The Mayor added, “By managing tourism in a sustainable way, Bruges can protect its heritage while remaining a vibrant, welcoming designation. We want to keep Bruges a city with activities beyond tourism.”
Once again, these sentiments will resonate deeply with leaders and residents in Bali as new solutions are being discussed.
Earlier this week, the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economies for Indonesia confirmed that he is writing up new legislation that will help prevent more agricultural and community-owned land in Bali from being turned over into tourism development and commercial properties.
Bali had already introduced a tourism tax back in February 2024, but leaders have struggled to ensure that everyone who visits the province makes the mandatory contribution.
As many as 60% of international visitors have been failing to pay their Bali Tourism Tax Levy, and officers from the Bali Tourism Office are now conducting regular spot checks to ensure that the government isn’t missing out on funds budgeted to be spent on protecting the island’s cultural, natural landscape and improving tourism infrastructure.
Last month, Minister Uno also spoke to reporters about the anti-tourism protests in Barcelona.
He explained, “Things like that, the Barcelona [protests], should not happen in Bali. Because if people feel uncomfortable with the presence of tourists, bad excesses emerge. In fact, tourism is one of the economic drivers in Bali.”
Minister Uno and other tourism leaders are on a mission to promote lesser-visited regions of Bali in the west, north, and west of the island to help spread tourism away from the highly concentrated resorts of the south.
He wants to create more awareness of resorts and interesting destinations in these regions and, in the long-term, improve north-to-south connectivity in Bali.
Minister Uno confirmed to reporters that the central government had given its backing to create a new toll road running through the center of the island to help keep tourism development in the region growing at a sustainable pace.
Indonesia has just signed agreements with some of Africa’s leading tourism nations to help create new sustainable tourism models for the long term.
With more cities and top travel destinations coming forward with solutions to overtourism, Bali will surely be taking stock of all options available.
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Ikaika
Tuesday 10th of September 2024
The only way to curb over tourism is to jack up the prices.
baliblest
Tuesday 10th of September 2024
it seems the last thing we ever do is look to other destinations, countries, for solutions. None of this is mysterious...some "solutions" have been around for a long time. The difficulty here is always going beyond the florid words of officials and implementing actual remedies. Those of us who have lived here for many years applaud each announcement, which points to someone coming to grips with a long-apparent problem, but none of us haa any hope there will be any real solutions. We are resigned to the sad, inevitable consequences of over-tourism on the island, which is, first and foremost, lower quality of life for its Balinese citizens, and the long term decrease in its appeal as a tourism destination. It's already too late, and too little. I hate even writing those words and wish it were not so, but wait and see is no longer a viable option, tho it appears to be the only option, here.
M
Monday 9th of September 2024
- don't allow cars on the Gilimanuk ferry - you can buy a car only if you can proof that you got a parking on your property (Tokyo model) - obligatory insurance for all vehicles - obligatory periodic inspection (like in every other country too) - enforce the existing rules, if somebody rides on a walkway or the wrong way down the road, bye bye driver license - last but not least, forbid kids to ride those electric motorcycles (they even take away the pedals, you can't tell it's a bycicle)
6 points which will never be introduced because nobody cares, crying ya but acting never...
Sven
Monday 9th of September 2024
Bali can look for solutions wherever they want, it won't help, because the number one problem in Bali is corruption.
Every solution in the book has been suggested for Bali over multiple decades. They have ignored all and only seeked ways to make money, not to make the place more livable.
Each destination has its own struggles and methods to deal with them, but they actually try to deal with them, not only seek ways to enrich corrupt officials.
Bali won't fix anything until general mentality changes. And I don't think it ever will, maybe in 100 years they get the small glimpse that corruption is thievery and things would be much better without it.
WAYAN BO
Tuesday 10th of September 2024
@Sven, corruption don’t make interruption 🤣 Anyway who isn’t.
WAYAN BO
Monday 9th of September 2024
Since living standard is rising Balineses should make more often holidays in Europe. - To manage Overtourism the tourist tax could be doubled and tripled like in New Zealand where tourist tax is tripled, from about € 30 to € 90 🤣