The island of Bali in Indonesia will impose a IDR150,000 (S$13.30) tourism tax on all foreign visitors from 2024 onwards.
Arrivals
The Jakarta Post, via the AFP, reported that the S$13.3o tax was to meant to help the resort island preserve its culture, according to Bali officials.
Bali's Governor I Wayan Koster said that the fee would apply just once per visit to Bali, and would be paid electronically.
The fee would apply to all foreign visitors regardless of whether they were travelling from other countries or other parts of Indonesia, but not to domestic Indonesia tourists.
Koster was quoted as saying that the did not believe that the tax would deter foreign visitors.
Kompas reported Koster saying that the tax would be used for the environmental and cultural protection, as well as building better quality infrastructure.
Koster said that he hoped tourism stakeholders and foreign tourist supported the policy to protect Bali, "
so that Bali could be maintained throughout the ages."
Departures
The tax comes after a spate of deportations from the island as well as several cases of foreign tourists misbehaving.
According to VO.ID, 169 foreign tourists have been deported from Bali from January to June 2023, with numerous stories emerging of tourists misbehaving on Bali.
In April 2023, a Russian woman was deported from Indonesia after posing topless next to a sacred 700 year-old banyan tree, while a Russian man was deported for exposing his buttocks on a sacred mountain.
Indonesian and Balinese tourism officials have been considering different ways of improving the situation, including banning tourists from sacred mountains.
It is also planning a ban on foreign tourists from renting motorcycles, a popular activity on the island.
But one of the measures being considered was a tourism tax, with one suggestion being a tax of up to US$150 (S$200).
It appears that island's government has settled on a lower sum for the estimated millions of visitors that visit every year.
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