New Partnerships In Bali Will See Tourists Encouraged To Visit New Destinations 

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For decades, Bali’s tourism leaders have encouraged tourists to visit new and emerging destinations on the island.

With the province managed as nine administrative regencies, it is Badung Regency that has become the most popular with tourists.

Home to resorts like Canggu, Seminyak, and Uluwatu, leaders want to make it easier for tourists to explore lesser-visited and even more engaging areas of the island. 

Badung Regency is home to almost all of Bali’s top resort destinations, including Kuta, Legian, Seminyak, Canggu, Jimbaran, Uluwatu, and Nusa Dua.

With Ubud sitting in Gianyar Regency, Amed in Karangasem Regency, and natural wonders like Mount Batur in Bangli Regency, the island has so much to offer across the land.

Tourism Minister Sandiaga Uno has long been a supporter of initiatives that promote lesser-visited regions of Bali, especially those in the north and west of the island. 

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For the first time, Minster Uno has set clear targets to encourage more tourists to explore outside of Badung Regency.

Minister Uno is still keen to see tourists explore resorts like Canggu, Seminyak, and Kuta, and he is absolutely not calling for tourists to avoid or boycott these resorts.

The opposite is, in fact, true; he wants to see tourists choosing to explore multiple destinations across the island during their vacation. 

In a press interview on Wednesday, 8th August, Minister Uno said he wants to see 25% of all Bali tourists visiting and staying in areas outside of Badung Regency.

He revealed, “Yesterday we received a commitment from the Regent of Badung, who will be the locomotive and become an active agent in distributing the number of tourists to districts or other destinations outside of South Bali.”

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Minister Uno confirmed that his teams will create new marketing campaigns both within Bali and internationally to promote these lesser-visited areas around the island.

He explained “We anticipate overtourism by activating activities in Buleleng Regency at the Pemuteran Tourism Village, then Singaraja City will carry out city tours, also to places where creative economy products are souvenirs.”

He added, “This is going to be a snowball that rolls. Once it is reported and becomes a trend, there will be a change in travel patterns so that tourists will flock not only to South Bali but also to other areas.”

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Minister Uno concluded that tourists and prospective international visitors simply need to be made aware of destinations outside of Badung Regency.

He noted that the current tourism infrastructure is built around promoting these areas, so it is no wonder the average holidaymaker is unaware of fantastic travel opportunities spread across the island.

Minister Uno feels that most tourists see Bali as a homogenized destination and talk about visiting ‘Bali’ rather than the specific regions, towns, villages, and attractions that are on offer. 

He concluded, “If their minds only mention Bali, then they take them to north, west or south Bali, and they can only know [this place as] Bali, Bali Island. So let’s use this as an opportunity because they are not [yet] specific about the Bali that they are talking about].” 

With a positive approach to mitigating potential overtourism in Badung Regency and south Bali overall, Minster Uno was asked about further methods of ensuring overtourism doesn’t bring negativity to the province. 

He shared, “I got the latest figures in the first half of 2024, the growth is above 20 percent, and Bali is still the favorite [nationwide] with a daily visit rate of over 21,000, but we have homework to do to distribute visits from foreign tourists to Bali to areas outside southern Bali.”

He revealed, “An increase of 10 percent will complete overtourism [in South Bali]. Don’t let it happen like in Barcelona, where tourists become the common enemy; we want to remain supportive.”