Bali’s Governor Koster has revealed plans to encourage more tourists to pay their Bali Tourism Tax Levy.
The Governor has revealed plans to give a commission of IDR 150,000 per traveler fee to businesses who sign up to partner with the Bali Provincial Government.
The Bali Tourism Levy was first introduced on the 14th of February 2024 and requires all international tourists to the province to pay a fee of IDR 150,000 per visit to the province. The fee can be paid upon arrival at Bali’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport or online via the LoveBali App or website.
When it was first introduced the fee was promoted as a means of tourists contributing to the preservation of Balinese culture, conservation of the landscape, and contributing too to the leveling up of tourism infrastructure. However, no specific budget has been published publicly.
However, even though this is a mandatory fee, written into Bali Provincial Law, less than 40% of all international arrivals have been paying their way.
Data revealed by the Bali Provincial Government shows that since 14th February 2024, the funds generated by the Bali Tourism Tax Levy have only reached IDR 317 billion, which is around USD 19.1 million.
In 2024 6,333,360 international tourists visited Bali Province, meaning that the total amount the government should have received in Bali Tourism Tax Levy fees should be IDR 950 billion, which is closer to USD 46 million.
Moving forward both Governor Koster and officials from the Bali Tourism Office, have been clear that they want and need more tourists to be paying the fee.
Over the last 13 months, a series of different solutions have been put in place including running marketing campaigns and deploying the Tourism Satpol PP Civil Police Teams and their Kintamani puppies to help socialize the policy with visitors. But neither has seemed to have a huge impact.
Speaking to the media on Wednesday 18th March, Governor Koster outlined his plans to make it easier for tourists to pay their fees across more locations, and in turn, support tourism businesses across the island.
Speaking in specific reference to Regional Regulation Number 6 of 2023 regarding the Policy of Foreign Tourists regarding the Environmental Protection and Management Plan 2025-2055, the Governor explained his vision moving forward.
Citing the aforementioned figures, Governor Koster shared “This shows that the policy needs to be improved to be more effective.”
He added, “Improving the quality of service and the implementation of Bali Cultural Tourism is carried out through activities to improve the quality of tourism destinations, tourism industry, tourism marketing, and tourism institutions.”
As part of the upcoming policy changes, businesses across Bali will be able to work together with the Bali Provincial Government to be a payment point for tourists to pay their tax fees. In return the businesses will be rewarded with a 3% commission, or IDR 5,500 per payment they take.
The commission system is just one of a series of solutions the government is working on to ensure that tourists always pay their Bali Tourism Tax fee.
Speaking separately the Chairman of Commission II of the Bali DPRD, Agung Bagus Pratiksa Linggih, explained how the government will be partnering with airlines to explore whether the tourism tax fee can be paid as part of airfares, or whether reminders can be integrated within the airline’s customer communication system.
He told reporters “This [Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aeronautiques] is a collection of international airlines and already exists all over the country.”
“The information, around 60-80 percent of airlines that fly to Bali are already members of SITA, so the payment will be like this, when people buy tickets to Bali at the airline, there will be a call to pay [tourism tax], then they can pay when buying tickets or later when they are in Bali.”
Linggih revealed that if this solution gets implemented tourists who have not paid the levy would receive a notification when checking in for their flight. If the levy has not been paid, the boarding pass cannot be issued before the obligation is completed.
“Of course, this is still a trial, Astungkara with this pattern is expected to be able to scoop up maybe over 90 percent of tax payments for tourists to Bali.”
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