Bali To Hire Vloggers and Influencers To ‘Aggressively’ Promote Tourism

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Bali has a complex relationship with bloggers, vloggers, and influencers. When things are going right, everyone is as happy as can be, but when things turn sour, those in Bali start questioning whether it’s all really worth it. 

Despite a recent series of incidences where local people have called for the deportation of disrespectful content creators, Badung Regency is hopeful that social media will be the key to promoting the district’s tourism destinations. Speaking to local reporters, the Head of the Badung Tourism Office, I Nyoman Rudiarta, has confirmed that they will be heavily investing in partnerships with digital content creators to ‘aggressively promote’ tourism in the area. 

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Rudiarta said ‘Regarding tourism promotion, the Regency has budgeted the funds, both for overseas and domestic promotions’. He confirmed that the Tourism Office has budgeted a whopping IDR 5 billion (USD 323,000) for the marketing campaigns. Rudiarta said that the Tourism Office is preparing to collaborate with domestic and international social media stars as well as tourist destinations themselves. He explained that tourism villages will be promoted through social media marketing campaigns.

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He told reporters that events like the Bali and Beyond Travel Fair are great events for promoting the island to the broader travel industry face-to-face. He said there will be more in-person promotional conferences for domestic tourism to Bali before the end of the year. He said, ‘This October, we will have a table talk to Jogjakarta, Bandung, Semarang, and there is also Batam. We will look at this in terms of market share. 

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When asked about international marketing of Bali as a tourism destination, he explained that the IDR 5 billion budget includes promotion targeted at the international market too. He said, ‘Obviously, speaking of visits abroad, we must have a permit. There must also be a permit from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We will propose it at the end of the year’. 

Other activities include creating digital content, targeted travel promotions, and events for tourists. He explained, ‘There is a photo competition for a tourism destination, and there is also a video competition. We hope that this will be a tourism promotion event with the potential we have’. The Tourism Office will announce the competition details in due course. 

Rudiarta did not confirm whether contracts have already been put in place with influencers and who the government has decided to partner with. Digital content creators like Damien Hoo have already partnered with the Indonesian Tourism Office to promote Bali and other key destinations in the country to both domestic and international audiences.

Rudiarta said that the efforts to aggressively promote tourism in Badung Regency are aligned with targets to bring tourist arrival numbers back to the pre-pandemic level. He hopes to see an average of 20,000 arrivals in Bali daily within the next year. 

He said, ‘If you refer to existing data, the number of visits to Pandawa Beach, Uluwatu, Sangeh, and so on every month has increased. This visit is dominated by domestic tourists. Now, for the target from the results of this tourism promotion, it is expected that 20 thousand tourists are expected. It seems that the Tourism Office’s targets are right on track and that the new campaign could ensure that they hit their goals.

Tourism Minster Sandiaga Uno set ambitious targets for tourism arrivals to Bali for 2022. So far, the resort island is right on track. Uno set a goal of welcoming 1.5 million international visitors and 6 million domestic visitors by the end of the year. As of September, Bali received an average of 10,000 arrivals daily. 

Badung Regency is one of Bali’s most visited regions. The Regency includes the famous southern beaches of Kuta, Legian, Seminyak, and Canggu. Further south, Badung Regency incorporates Uluwatu, Jimbaran and Nusa Dua. While Minster Uno has committed to promoting lesser visited areas of West and North Bali, Badung Regency is confident that its marketing campaigns will do wonders for the island.