Officials Tell Tourists ‘Stigma Of A Free Bali Must Be Changed’

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Top tourism officials in Bali have issued statements saying that the belief that the island is a tourism destination that permits total freedom must end.

While Bali has long been associated as a travel hotspot where foreigners can let loose, those days are numbered, and leaders feel a new era of culturally respectful and sustainable tourism must be sworn in. 

As Bali continues to battle against a small but significant number of culturally disrespectful and criminally inclined tourists visiting the island, leaders want to see more effort committed to stopping the stigma that the province is a travel destination that is totally free for all. 

According to the Indonesian Tourism Industry Association (GIPI) for Bali, the way to address the stigma of the Island of the Gods is totally free, and a place with lax law enforcement is to re-enforce the ‘dos and don’ts’ as well as tightening the conditions for the arrival of foreign tourists.

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Speaking to reporters, the Chairman of GIPI Bali IB, Agung Partha Adnyana, said, “The stigma of a free Bali must be changed, yes… the dos and don’ts must also be tightened again.”

Adnyana was referring to the Circular Letter (SE) issued by the Bali Provincial Government titled the Governor of Bali SE Number 4 of 2023 concerning New Orders for Foreign Tourists While in Bali.

This letter outlined the do’s and don’ts for tourists in Bali, and for a short time, the information was given to all tourists on small red flyers as they arrived at Bali Airport.

The information was also plastered on a series of billboards, placed at top tourist attractions, and communicated in the media too.

However, despite these efforts, reports of badly behaved foreigners in Bali appear to be on the rise again as the 2024 high season gets into flow. 

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Adnyana said that though the fact that the flyer was put into passports on arrival made some impact, the fact that the practice stopped so soon after it started has meant that tourists’ understanding of the do’s and don’ts has fallen again.

He said, “Indeed, it was already there visually (in the form of a billboard, announcements, web pages), but many people didn’t see it afterward. Now we are trying again as before, manually.”

He wants to see the flyers reintroduced and the dos and don’t communicate more broadly to try and stop the stigma of Bali being a destination that can be disrespected by foreigners who are under the misguided belief that criminal, culturally disrespectful, reckless, and irresponsible behavior will be blindly tolerated; it won’t.

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While the vast majority of tourists are hugely culturally respectful and, in fact, are visiting Bali to learn more about the island’s unique way of life and see for themselves the cultural heritage of the island, culturally respectful and sustainable tourism is not the ‘standard’ offering in Bali at this time.

At the moment, the negative impacts of mass tourism are being felt heavily by local communities and the authorities who are keen to change that public image quickly. 

There are now concerns that alcohol consumption is playing too heavily of a role in the number of foreigners being caught behaving badly in Bali.

So much so that last week the Indonesian Minster for Tourism and Creative Economies, Sandiaga Uno, issued statements calling on both tourists and tourism businesses to be more responsible when it comes to alcohol. 

Minster Uno told reporters, “Those who provide drinks have a duty to tell them [tourists] to sit down first, don’t continue drinking, don’t end up losing consciousness, because losing consciousness can make people do anything.”

He added, “Tourists must be informed, like some world-class destinations that are of higher quality, they have limited. Once they [tourists] exceed orders, the bar staff and waiters say no, this is too much.”

Minister Uno concluded, “This requires support not only from law enforcement officials, but the community and the tourism ecosystem to remind tourists that there are limited to drinking and the use of drugs is prohibited and will be dealt with very severely. We must limit the use of alcohol or anything that can trigger unlawful behavior.”