Bali’s new tourism tax has been in effect for a little over a week; while it seems that tourists aren’t too fussed about paying an extra USD 10 to visit the Island of the Gods, the new system has been experiencing a couple of teething problems.
The Bali Tourism Department has requested that I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport allow them to add additional collection counters at both the international and domestic terminals.
Speaking to reporters, the Head of Marketing at the Bali Tourism Office, Ida Ayu Yustikarini, explained that the process of scanning tax payment vouchers needs to be quicker.
It has also been noted that the highly discussed online payment system is experiencing major hiccups, and tourists are struggling to make their payments online as all officials and the National Tourism Board have been encouraging them to do for weeks.
Yustikarini revealed, “We are coordinating with Angkasa Pura (airport management company) to get permission to add payment counters, such as for the domestic arrivals because we know that foreign tourists come not only directly from their country but can also go through over province so they arrive domestically.”
This request came after officials evaluated and reviewed the system since it was launched last week. The Bali Tourism Office also wants to add more payment outlets to the international departures terminal.
Yustikarini said that feedback came in to say that payment counters should be installed at the departure terminals as a failsafe for those tourists who have been unable to pay online, on arrival, or at their accommodation for any number of reasons.
Since its launch on February 14th, Bali has connected tax payments from 75,883 tourists, generating IDR 11.38 billion.
The payment can only be made in Indonesian Rupiah, to the amount of IDR 150,000, which equates to roughly USD 10, taking into consideration daily currency exchange fluctuations.
The Bali Tourism Office has acknowledged that the Love Bali website and app have been notably slow and quick to crash.
This has been the most frequently reported problem to officials by tourists who have been following the initial guidance to pay online prior to arrival to help reduce queue times at the airport.
The Love Bali payment portal has been crashing on repeat for weeks, in many cases failing to load entirely or displaying an Error 404 message.
Yustikarini told reporters that there are improvements being made to the system on a daily basis, though some frustrated travelers will note that the plan to launch the tourism tax has been in place for months and, therefore, the digital payment system has more than enough time to be put through rigorous testing before the launch.
Yustikarini has shared new advice for tourists planning their trips to Bali when it comes to paying the tourism tax.
Yustikarini said, “We don’t want to suggest or give advice to foreign tourists to pay online, but our payment system has many problems. Don’t let that disappointment from foreign tourists reduce their trust in Bali as a tourism area.”
With this in mind, if tourists find that the Love Bali website and/or app is not responsive, the most time-effective way to pay the new tourism tax is on arrival at Bali Airport if there is not too big of a queue in the arrivals hall.
Alternatively, tourists can pay at their hotel or with their travel agent. Yustikarini said, “Mostly travel agents [are best] because if an agent has registered as a payment point, they can apply for direct levy payments for up to 500 people, so not one person at a time.”
Yustikarini confirmed that the Bali Provincial government would continue to monitor the tourism tax system from start to finish and will continue to implement feedback as it is gathered.
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Chris Hemingway
Saturday 13th of April 2024
I've tried to make payment by credit card twice. I receive approval from the corresponding banking app, but the website says Authentication Failed, and if you click to go back it says 403 error. So two months later and it looks like they haven't fixed the bugs yet...
Made BA
Thursday 29th of February 2024
The tourism tax money will be used to pay salaries for the people hired to collect the tourism tax money.
Predicted yearly revenue for this tax is IDR 400 billion - USD 25 million, so please forgive us, budgets are tight.
Fred
Thursday 29th of February 2024
Fake News. There is no mandatory tourism tax. Only gullible people who pay it for no reason. You have to pay &50 for the visa that's enough, but you can enter and exit Bali without paying this imaginary tax, no one asks for it.
Warren Pickering
Wednesday 28th of February 2024
I did online payment and it charged me 3 times....$45au
Randy
Tuesday 27th of February 2024
Yustikarini revealed, “We are coordinating with Angkasa Pura (airport management company) to get permission to add payment counters, such as for the domestic arrivals because we know that foreign tourists come not only directly from their country but can also go through over province so they arrive domestically.”
COME AGAIN...If you are going to charge a fee ask the Domestic local travelers as well, you cannot differentiate any travelers arriving through the domestic terminal. That would be called discrimination! All must pay arriving through the domestic terminal or none pay at all. Furthermore, there are also foreign residents in Indonesia with a KITAS and KITAP who do travel within the country.