Bali’s leaders are on a mission to ensure that all international tourists pay their Bali Tourism Tax Levy fee before departing the island.
The tax was introduced in February 2024, and data collected from the first year of the policy shows that as few as 35% of tourists made the mandatory IDR 150,000 payment.
Bali’s top tourism officials have been open in their assessments of the success and failures of the Bali Tourism Tax Levy policy to date. One key issue the policy is facing is the lack of payment points for tourists to make their contributions.
While the LoveBali website and app are available only 24/7, not many tourists have been made aware of the portal.
Though there are payment booths at I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport, many tourists are so preoccupied with flight arrangements or visa-on-arrival applications that it is inconvenient to pay there.
Tourists can also make their payments at some of the top tourist attractions on the island such as Uluwatu Temple and Tanah Lot Temple, on days when spot checks are being carried out by officers from the Bali Tourism Office.
Fundamentally, leaders have also acknowledged that more needs to be done to communicate the policy to all tourists since many hundreds of thousands of international arrivals in Bali are still unaware of their obligation to make the payment.
The IDR 150,000 per person is set to help ‘conserve culture, nurture nature and develop infrastructure’; however, a detailed budget breakdown for how the IDR 318 billion, around USD 19.2 million, will be spent has yet to be published publicly.
Back in March 2205 the Governor of Bali Wayan Koster, announced that the first round of Bali Tourism Tax Levy funds had been distributed.
He confirmed that the funds had been sent directly to traditional village governments for them to use as they see fit, in alignment with the policy legislation, which states that funds must be spent on preserving Balinese culture, protecting the natural landscape, and leveling up the province’s infrastructure.
With the Bali Provincial Government facing an unexpected deficit in funds after the first year of the tax being in place, leaders are now working to get the plan back on track to get tourists to pay their fees and ultimately benefit from their contributions as quickly as possible, as well as ensuring a broader spectrum of the Balinese population benefits from the island’s tourism sector.
Tourists in Bali are paying tax contributions in everything they pay for, whether it be through the hotels and restaurant tax, or the tourism levies attached to entry tickets at top attractions. However, there have long been fears that funds have been ‘leaked’ in cash-based payment systems.
One way that the Tourism Office is working to ensure everything is above board is to digitalise the payment systems at all attractions, making it easier for tourists to pay their Bali Tourism Tax Levy and entry ticket fees with the associated taxes all in one go.
The Head of the Buleleng Tourism Office, Gede Dody Sukma Oktiva Askara, has confirmed that more payment points have been created at top attractions in the area. Buleleng Regency is Bali’s northernmost regency and is home to unmissable attractions such as Lovina Beach, the waterfalls of Munduk, and West Bali National Park.
Askara confirmed that 20 new payment points and e-ticketing devices have been installed across the most popular attractions in Buleleng.
There are hopes that digitalizing the payment system will make the process easier for international tourists, who more often than not prefer to pay by card, and that this will account for the tax funds generated in real time.
He explained, “We are currently also exploring a number of other tourist attractions to adjust the retribution payments, from conventional to digital, which shows income in real-time.”
He added that the new payment points will also be available for tourists who are booking tourism experiences such as the dolphin watching experiences from Lovina Beach.
Askara shared, “The tour package that implements e-ticketing will be a pilot project in Buleleng. With this entrance ticket package, tourists who visit do not need to bother looking for information including the potential for overpriced tours.”
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