Leaders in Bali have issued fresh statements regarding discussions to increase the Bali Tourism Tax Levy by over 500%.
The IDR 150,000 fee was introduced in February 2024, but some leaders and tourism business owners feel that the fee needs to be dramatically increased in order to ward off unruly tourists.
The Head of the Bali Tourism Office, Tjok Bagus Pemayun, has confirmed to reporters that he and his teams will conduct an in-depth viability study before any changes to the fees are introduced.
Since the Bali Tourism Tax Levy was implemented on 14 February 2024, data shows that only around 40% of foreign tourists have paid the mandatory fee of IDR 150,000 per person.
According to the Bali Tourism Office, this means that Bali has been shortchanged by around IDR 186 billion. Currently, the funds generated by the Bali Tourism Tax Levy sit at USD 7.1 million.
Speaking directly with reporters, Pemayun explained that an increase in the tax could be on the cards, though he did not suggest by how much.
Pemayun said, “We have to do another study, not just all at once so that we can see where the figure comes from. There must be a calculation of whether the figure is reasonable so that it doesn’t burden tourists. This increase is not a matter of whether it is right or not related to efforts to improve the quality of tourists.”
When asked about potential solutions to ensure that the remaining 60% of tourists pay their fees, Pemayun acknowledged that more needs to be done.
He wants to see the process streamlined for tourists, since as it stands right now tourists must visit two different websites and process two separate payments for their tourism e-visa on arrival and the Bali Tourism Tax Levy if they want to get all the paperwork out the way before they fly to Bali.
Pemayun said, “In the future, if possible, we will try to collaborate with Immigration again because there is an auto scanner gate tool that is actually the key.”
He confirmed that monitoring of this policy is ongoing. Pemayun confirmed that one of the main obstacles to implementing this levy is the imperfection of the monitoring system on the group.
Initially, Bali Governor’s Regulation (Pergub) No. 36 of 2023 mandated the installation of auto scanner gate devices at airports to ensure that all tourists paid the fees before leaving the airport, except for those who received exceptions, such as flight crew and diplomats.
However, the autogates that were recently installed at Bali’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport are strictly for immigration and border control purposes, and there are both insufficient scanners and staff available to scan all tourist’s QR-code vouchers on arrival.
This is why the Tourism Task Force and the Bali Tourism Office have been conducting spot checks at top attractions. These spot checks are ongoing and scheduled twice a month.
Pemayun explained, “After we were in the field, we invited the Governor and the Regional Secretary to look at it with the whole team, in the end the Gubernatorial Regulation was changed to Bali Gubernatorial Regulation Number 2 of 2024 because from the airport side it was not possible, there was no land to install it.”
He added, “Whatever the proposal is, we will review it again because we have to change the regional regulations, which are intended for the environment and culture.”
Local politician Gede Komang Kresna Budi spoke to the press last week and made it clear that he and his teams feel that the IDR 150,000 fee is far too low. They want to see the Bali Tourism Tax Levy increased to around IDR 800,000.
Budi told reporters, “This levy on foreign tourists is not yet effective; that’s why we want to increase the role of other sectors such as Immigration and the Police.”
He concluded, “I think IDR 150,000 is too low, so Bali seems like a cheap tourist destination. That’s why we plan to increase it by fifty dollars. Why should Bali be sold cheaply?”
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Bec
Thursday 27th of June 2024
Bali is not being sold cheaply, you can go to Thailand free of charge. You will deter families and tourists but not the hooligans you are trying to discourage. You will punish the ones doing the right thing, paying their fees and the hooligans keep being hooligans. If this goes through many people I know will be deterred. I am going for my first time after traveling all over the world and if it cost $130(visa and tourist tax) just to get in I think along with many others will deter elsewhere.
Jack
Wednesday 26th of June 2024
How about figuring out how to collect the tax from the 60% of tourists that aren’t paying it..then maybe there would be no need to increase it At the moment they don’t even know how they’re going to spend what taxes they’ve already collected. It can’t be about deterring unruly tourists as we know that doesn’t work but will certainly deter family groups.
[email protected]
Tuesday 25th of June 2024
150000 or 800000 For what this money will be used? 2 times I’m payed online 150000 Nobody check this payment!! Already children we teaching Trust is ok, control is better !! Sometimes I’m feeling officials in Bali acting like uneducated people! The only thing they understand is Money, best in there on pocket! All my local friends know about the monkey business from this officials!! Be transparent and control the system!
Sven
Wednesday 26th of June 2024
@[email protected], the tax collection mess is all part of their corrupt scam. That way money cannot be counted fully and it's easy to steal. These people have no interest to improve anything, only to collect money for themselves from naive tourists.
Wayan Bo
Tuesday 25th of June 2024
Casinos Las Vegas style should come as next 🎰
PeeVee
Tuesday 25th of June 2024
Lets how this tax performs when another lockdown comes again.....increase to 800.000rp...thats a bit premadonna-ish is it not to get a "better quality" of tourist for this over crowded under-infrastructured over-rated destination....getting a bit sombong are we...or is it just another "slush fund" for the "Re-allocation"... Better do some further business analysis and critical thinking rather than introducing another tax based on what one "feels". But at the end of the day i couldnt give a damn...place is way over-rated.