Bali Tourists Urged To Check Tour Guides Are Certified Before Booking

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Tourists planning their visits to Bali, and those who are already on the island, are being urged to only book tours and travel experiences with officially certified guides and travel companies.

The warnings come after a tourist was scammed and assaulted by someone posing as a guide. 

Tourists in Bali are being advised to do thorough research on their tour guide before booking following an assault on a tourist from China by a man in Bali posing as a tour guide.

The man in question, originally from Surabaya, has been taken into police custody.

The Head of Public Relations Section Denpasar Police, AKP I Ketut Sukadi, has outlined the events of the incident to the press in hopes that such an incident won’t happen again.

The woman, known by her initials HJT, was on vacation in Bali over the Chinese New Year Festival. 

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HJT and her friend are reported to have agreed to book Faisal Akbar Ramadhan, 29, as her tour guide after he offered her his services as a taxi driver. He offered to take them to a nightclub and drive them home. 

AKP Sukadi told reporters, “They enjoyed entertainment and drank alcohol until 01.00 WITA. After that, the victim and her friend asked the suspect to take them back to their hotel in the Nusa Dua area.”

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However, Ramadhan did not take the tourists to their hotel as they requested. He took them to another hotel in the Benoa area.

He convinced HJT to come to a room on the pretense that he was dropping off a gift to a friend. Once in the room, Ramadhan seriously assaulted HJT. Once safely away from him, HJT reported the attack to the police, who were able to track him down and arrest him.

AKP Sukadi is urging tourists to pay attention to the credibility and verification status of prospective tour guides.

Travelers who want to book a tour guide must ensure that the guide is regulated and formally registered with the guide association.

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The General Secretary of the Indonesian Tourist Guide Association DPP, Reyhan, told reporters, “So there are many ways [tourists can check], namely to see whether they have a KTPP (Tourist Guide Identification Card) or if they join an association they have at least one of those documents, that is one of the cross-checks.” 

While this advice is sound, tourists may feel uncomfortable asking for verification documents or be unsure as to what would qualify as fraudulent documents.

However, one surefire way to know if a tour guide is not operating legally is to see if they can produce any documents at all.

The tourist guide ID card must match their national ID card and be up to date. If guides cannot show these to guests, guests have the right to walk away and not proceed with booking. 

One of the best ways to stay safe against the potential for scam guides or criminals with devastating ulterior motives is to book tour guides through accommodation providers, those who come with a personal recommendation, or guides that are provided through legitimate travel companies. 

This is an issue the authorities are going to have to take more seriously.

This is not the first time a tourist has been violently assaulted by someone posing as a tour guide or driver.

In August 2023, a Brazilian tourist was attacked by her motorcycle taxi driver in the Jimbaran area. 

Following an attempted extortion of tourists by an unregistered taxi driver in Bali, both Wonderful Indonesia and the taxi company Bluebird issued guidance to help tourists understand all the safety features available in taxis to help them avoid being coerced into booking with someone operating outside of the law.