Travel trends in Bali are changing. Travel trends in Bali have been changing for a good long while in fact.
As tourists’ focus shifts further away from a classic resort hotel vacation and towards private villas and self-organised stays, leaders in Bali are concerned that the number of illegally operating accommodation options on the island has increased.
The former Chairman of the Bali Restaurant and Hotels Association, Gede Wiratha, remains a highly regarded figure in the tourism space in Bali.
Speaking to reporters about his observations of changing travel trends and shifts in the tourism industry, Wiratha feels that greater controls and stricter law enforcement are necessary to help protect tourists from fraudulent accommodation providers and to protect the economy against businesses operating illegally.
Wiratha shared “In Bali the famous thing right now is the villa. The villas are an attraction for tourists to come to Bali. No more is it hotels, and no more [is it] bars and restaurants. It’s the villas and the beach clubs.”
He noted that personally. He wants to see more people coming to Bali to engage with local culture, and to experience the Balinese way of life, rather than to stay in a private villa, physically separate and disconnected from the wider island itself.
The tourism veteran also shared that he has seen a rise in the number of villas and private holiday rental properties in Bali, and that he feels many are operating outside of the law. The violations he is concerned with is villas being build without the correct permits, and without formal registration, and therefore not making sufficient tax contributions.
He is not pointing the finger at international villa owners, but also calling at Balinese and Indonesian business owners who have set up their own private villas and tourism businesses after years of working in the tourism industry themselves. Wiratha is calling for a collaborative effort from all private accommodation owners in Bali to ensure that the sector is operating above board.
Wirtatha explained “Now they (local tourism works) have understood. By building just four rooms, you can live for six months. It’s better for them to work in their own villa than to work in someone else’s accommodation.”
He is calling for there to be changes in the way in which small private accommodation providers, such as tourism villa businesses, are regulated in Bali.
Wiratha said “It is not only the provincial government that should manage it, let alone the district-city government. It should be managed by the central government.”
The current Head of the Bali Restaurant and Hotels Association, I Gusti Ngurah Rai Suryawijaya, echoed Wiratha’s observations and noted that cost plays a huge factor in tourists’ accommodation choices.
With tourists traveling on smaller budgets, wanting to max out on value for money, villas, and small private guest houses are deemed by many to offer greater privacy, greater freedom, and greater affordability.
Suryawijaya explained “I monitor the condition on the field, the guests who come at this time are middle low guests. Many stay in private villas, condotels, apartments, and even many in guest houses and home stays. Not to a 4 or 5 star hotel because they want the cost of a shoestring budget. Well that’s what’s happening now.”
He raised concerned that this is creating tax loses and noted that illegal subletting villas is also on the rise.
Suryawijaya explained “Some [villas] are also managed by foreigners individually and marketed directly [to foreigners]. For example, there are some local people from my area renting out a 3 bedroom villa. Sold for IDR 3 million to IDR 5 million per month to foreign guests. Foreign guests sell again to their guests for IDR 3 million per night.”
As stipulated in Governor Koster’s “Circular Letter (SE) No. 07 of 2025 concerning New Regulations for Foreign Tourists During Their Stay in Bali” all tourists to Bali are obliged by law to “stay in licensed accommodation”.
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