Leaders in Bali are in the midst of a crackdown on illegal tourism accommodation on the island.
According to local tourism stakeholders and politicians, there is a rising number of private vacation villas in Bali operating outside the law. This includes operating unregistered businesses and foreigners on the island illegally subletting properties and working on the island while on tourism visas.
The Regent of Badung, Wayan Adi Arnawa, and the Deputy Regent of Badung, Bagus Alit Sucipta, have conducted a series of spot checks on suspected illegally operating tourism villas on the island.
On Monday, May 5th, the Regents and their team visited a private vacation villa on Jalan Taman Sari in the North Kuta area.
The spot checks and site visits have been carried out as the latest travel data from the Bali Provincial Government shows that tourism arrival figures are increasing, but hotel occupancy is decreasing.
Regent Arnawa and his teams are working on the hypothesis that this is because an increasing number of private villas and guesthouses are being built on land that is registered as residential land and owned by local people but is leased out to foreign nationals or that the private villas are rented to tourists or foreigners on long-stay socio-cultural visas in Bali.
Regent Arnawa told reporters, “We first ensure whether accommodation like this is included in the target tax object, in this case, the Regional Taxpayer Identification Number (NPWPD) or not. However, in reality, from several places we visited, some had paid and some had not registered as NPWPD.”
Though Regent Arnawa and his teams are concerned that the number of illegally operating accommodation businesses in the region is rising and that hotel occupancy rates are in a small decline, accommodation is still the biggest contributor to Bali’s Regional gross Domestic Product.
The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) of Bali has confirmed that during the first quarter of 2025, accommodation, followed by food and beverage businesses, contributed the most tax to the provincial budget.
In a statement, the head of the Agus Gede, Hendrayana Hermawan, said, “Accommodation and eating and drinking, when we talk, create the biggest added value because the portion of tourist spending is also the largest for accommodation and food.”
Hermawan confirmed that accommodation businesses in the Badung Regency area, followed by Denpasar City, were the highest contributors to tax revenue through the hotel and restaurant taxes added “The contribution of the service sector is still quite dominant and the most dominant service sector is accommodation and food, this is also in line with the development of tourism which is indeed the driving force of the Bali economy.”
He shared, “If we look at the numbers, Bali’s economic performance accelerates faster than the national, maybe the driver is also a little different, if the national industry or processing, while we are the driving force of tourism.”
In a practical sense, tourists booking upcoming trips to Bali need to be aware that that they are legally obliged to stay in formally registered, and legally operating accommodation. This is stipulated in the “Circular Letter (SE) No. 07 of 2025 concerning New Regulations for Foreign Tourists During Their Stay in Bali”.
As tourist trends see increasing demand for stays in private villas in Bali, savvy tourists are looking to hotels to provide incredible facilities, all-inclusive options, exceptional service, and unmissable deals. As demand for private villas rises and hotel occupancy rates start to decline, savvy tourists will be able to find fantastic hotel deals as resorts seek to fill rooms and keep their businesses growing.
Discover more from The Bali Sun
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.