Bali Introduces New Tax For Foreign Visitors

This week Bali has officially introduced a new measure for the tourist taxes in order to support sustainable tourism and keep the natural and cultural resources safe. The $10 fee which was introduced recently can be said to be the first significant step the island takes towards managing increased tourism and the problems of over-tourism that come with it.

This move of introducing this tourism tax is however arriving at this time when Bali among many other vacation destinations across the world is now trying to measure the social-economic advantage of tourism against the rate of detrimental impact on the environment and root diversity. The beautiful Indonesian island that houses notable shorelines, tropical vegetation, and other related cultural values has been on the list of every traveler’s choice. Since then, a continuous increase in visitor numbers has begun to exert social, economic, and environmental impacts on the island and the host communities.

There is an IND 100,000 or USD 10 charge on all foreign travelers arriving in Bali which is also charged upon entry. Again the DOM is only applied on foreign tourists and not Indonesian citizens, indicating that the Indonesian government is only targeting the control of international tourism. Reserve from this new levy is being used in various activity that seek to improve the visitor experience while at the same time promoting the sustainability of Balin environment and culture.

Preparation of the tourism tax should also aim at ensuring conservation of environment across the island. Eco issues affecting Bali include but are not limited to; Pollution, wasted water, and the deteriorating condition of coral reefs. Some of the collected fees will go toward funding these problems; others will go toward the programs such as better garbage disposal systems, coral reefs restoration, and species in danger of extinction from the island.

Also, it will enhance tax revenue in support of cultural conservation. Indonesian culture especially Balinese with its arts, customs, rituals and Balinese people’s philosophy and attitude to live famous travel appeal. But this has been marred with a problem of commercialization and diminution of the cultures by the influx of visitors. Through advancing the development of cultural learning centers, empowering traditional crafts makers, and preserving cultural heritage sites and values, the tourism tax is targeting to preserve Bali’s cultural heritage for the future generations to cherish and enjoy.

Investment in development of infrastructure is another segment that will have to adapt to new tax. For some years, and as the number of tourists arrivals increased, roads, airport and public utilities of Bali have experienced the pressure. The additional funds will refine the transport access not only public amenities but also all the visitor amenities throughout the Island. Such enhancements are likely to enhance not only the quality of services to the visiting tourists but also to uplift the lives of the already dwelling citizen.

The introduction of the tourism tax has received negations from different people within and outside government. Most of the environmentalist organizations and sustainable tourism supporters have applauded this move as an appropriate measure towards better management of the tourism sector. They say it only costs a few dollars to make this contribution and this amount should be enough to make clients keep the beauty and interest of such places alive.

However, some operators in the tourism industry have raised an opinion of the possible consequences that may affect tourists’ turnout in the various destinations, as the travel industry is gradually counting its losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That is why proponents of the tax maintaining that the $10 fee will not affect serious travelers and may even appeal to environmentally friendly tourists that would prefer traveling to sustainably friendly regions.

The Bali tourism tax is not unique or isolated strategy since more and more destinations are introducing visitor fees to deal with the issue of tourism more effectively. Such measures have been implemented in such cities like Venice Italy, Amsterdam Netherlands, and New Zealand; this states that the world is slowly coming to realize the need For sustainable tourism development.

So in order to maintain public confidence, which translates to more visitors to Bali, the Bali government has pledged to continue to report publicly on how the tax receipts are being deployed. This accountability is important for informing tourists that they are positively contributing towards the conservation of the island.

While Bali implements this novel approach to management of tourist flows, the global society will surely observe the results. The success of this approach could have the intended purpose of promoting a similar attempt by other popular tourist destinations that are bound to face the same problem of achieving the growth of the tourism industry while at the same time taking measures towards sustainability.

To those tourists who are planning to visit Bali, the new tax has brought about a positive impact since it is a small form of supporting the governments effort of preserving one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world. Sustaining tourism development in Bali: As tourism becomes aware of their impact to destinations, imposing tourism taxes such as the one that has been implemented recently will be more a common and acceptable norms in the society.