New Bali Water Taxi Service Launches For Tourists 

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A new water taxi service has launched in the popular Bali beach resort of Benoa.

The service will be known as the Bali Marine Water Taxi and will help connect tourists with Tanjung Benoa, Serangan, and Pedungan. This is just one of many sea taxi routes that Bali wants to develop in the coming months.

Tanjung Benoa is having a bit of a moment! This weekend Benoa Harbour made history for hosting three large cruise ships simultaneously.

The occasion was honored by the Indonesian Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) Erick Thohir, who shared, “This success further establishes Benoa Port as the main destination for international cruise ships and a historic momentum on the journey to become Home Port Tourism in Indonesia.” 

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Benoa is undergoing a period of transformation, receiving over USD 80 million in funding to be developed into the Bali Maritime Tourism Hub, the launch of the Bali Marine Water Taxi is just one of many initiatives that are underway to establish Benoa as a well-connected, welcoming and high-end tourism destination. 

The Acting Executive Director of Pelindo, Johannes Wahyu, spoke to reporters at the launch of the new sea taxi service. Pelindo is a private company that has partnered with the Indonesian government to invest in and develop the Bali Maritime Tourism Hub.

Wayhu shared “With the Bali Marine Water Taxi program, it is expected to shorten the travel distance and experience for tourists who want to visit Tanjung Benoa, Serangan, and Pedungan.”

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He added “This program is a form of creating shared value between Pelindo and Tanjung Benoa. Pelindo will always be present for the Tanjung Benoa community.”

The Head of Tanjung Benoa Traditional Village, Made Wijaya told reporters “Hopefully, the presence of this water taxi can provide more benefits to the community, especially in Tanjung Benoa.”

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The new service will connect tourists quickly and easily with  Tanjung Benoa, Serangan, and Pedungan. Tanjung Benoa is best known as Bali’s leading water sports and adventure activity resort and is home to some of the best family-friendly hotels in the province.

Serangan is an emerging tourism destination and is ideal for tourists who want to experience life in an authentic Balinese fishing community. There is also a series of efforts in place to establish Serangan Island as a tourism village, modeled on the success of other tourism villages in Bali such as Penglipuran.

This is not the first ocean taxi service that is available in Bali. Sea taxi and fast boat operator GoBoat was the first to launch a service of this kind, opening a route between Canggu and Uluwatu. The service departs four times a day from Uluwatu to Canggu and five times daily between Canggu and Uluwatu. GoBoat also operates a sea taxi service between Jimbaran and Canggu daily. 

Bali is also waiting on the launch of an ocean taxi service that will connect I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport with Nusa Penida.

Since Bali Airport is located meters from the coast, it is easy for tourists to connect directly from the airport to the harbor and onwards to Nusa Penida, negating the need to first travel to Sanur or Padangbai by road.

The Indonesian Ministry of Transportation communicated earlier this year that it also plans to open sea taxi routes from Bali Airport through to Kuta, Legian, Seminyak, and Canggu.

This is all part of a wider mission to help reduce traffic congestion in Bali’s leading tourism resorts, an issue that impacts almost all tourists at some point during their stay. There are hopes that the rollout of more water taxi routes will provide tourists with accessible, comfortable, and efficient means of traveling as much of the province as possible during their vacations.