Garbage piling up on the beach of Kuta, a popular surf spot in Bali. — Photos: CAROLA FRENTZEN/dpa
Valentine's Day in Bali, Indonesia began with less rosy news for tourists this year.
As of Feb 14, foreign visitors arriving on the popular Indonesian holiday island had to pay a tourist tax on top of the visa fees, as Bali is trying to tackle some of its biggest problems – including trash and traffic.
It’s hardly a coincidence that the fee of IDR150,000 (about RM45), announced last year, was introduced in February, which is monsoon season on Bali, when rain batters the island nearly every day.
This means fewer tourists come to visit the temples and rice paddies than in July and August.
The queues at immigration at Bali’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai airport are significantly shorter in the off-season – a great time to test whether the new tax will considerably prolong waiting times.
The government says it will spend income from the new fee on protecting nature and culture on the Island of the Gods, as Bali is often called, as well as on sustainable tourism and services.
Bali is the only Hindu-dominated island in predominantly Muslim Indonesia and is famous for its unique traditions and rituals.
But first, some 70% of the money generated by the tourist tax is to tackle the island’s biggest problem: trash.
Heaps of rubbish are currently being swept onto the beach of Kuta, popular with surfers, by monsoon currents.
Workers collect tons of bottles, cups and other plastic packaging every day. Lorries ferry off the rubbish, but the next day it is already piling up again.
Carpets of trash floating off the beach is a common sight in Bali, and not limited to the island’s beaches. “Even less famous attractions like some waterfalls in the jungle are full of trash,” says taxi driver Ketut Oka.
Traffic is another issue that mars Bali’s image as a holiday paradise.
Streets are congested with cars and scooters and the island barely has public transport. If tourists want to move around, they either have to get a taxi or rent a scooter, though navigating Bali’s traffic is no easy feat.
A Canadian living on the island reports being stuck in traffic jams for hours on the way from Uluwatu on Bali’s southernmost tip to Ubud, the island’s yoga stronghold.
The government has long been planning to establish a railway network to at least connect the airport with southern holiday resorts including Kuta, but that will only solve part of the problem.
Despite the big media build-up ahead of the rollout of the tourist tax, many Balinese are unaware of its introduction.
“I had no idea,” says Laksmi, a receptionist at a hotel in Ubud.
However, she doesn’t believe that the fee will do much to change the situation.
“I think there are simply too many people in Bali, and especially the Balinese people dump their waste often straight into nature – that’s almost part of the culture here,” she says.
Solving the traffic problem would hardly be possible with money, Laksmi says. “Every family has at least two cars and three motorcycles.”
Kaela, an Australian citizen doing a yoga training course in Ubud, also hasn’t heard of the new tourist tax yet.
“I hadn’t heard of this, but that feels like such a small amount of money for each of us to pay to help the problems that tourists are definitely part of the cause of. I’m here for it,” she says.
While the fee might not make a big difference for solo travellers like her, many families with children might be tempted to look for cheaper holiday destinations in South-East Asia, as the tax has to be paid in addition to the IDR500,000 (RM151) for a 30-day visa and applies to everyone, including children.
Workers loading bags of garbage collected on Kuta.
Those who make a side trip to neighbouring islands such as the popular Gili Islands, Lombok or Java have to pay again on their return trip to Bali.
Indonesia also plans to significantly hike its so-called leisure tax, which would increase prices in bars, nightclubs and spas including in Bali. Many in the industry fear this might deter tourists further.
Some 18,000 holidaymakers arrive on the island every day. That means the new tourist tax could bring in another US$65mil (RM308.1mil) annually for the authorities to spend, though provincial governor Sang Made Mahendra Jaya has so far not stated clearly exactly how the money will be spent.
“It is important for foreign tourists to know that their money is used for cultural preservation and waste management on the Island of the Gods,” he said.
To avoid long queues at the airport, travellers have been advised to pay the tourist tax in advance via the Love Bali website or the Love Bali app.
Otherwise, it’s possible to pay upon arrival via credit card.
“I can only hope that the tourism tax will help Bali in some way,” says Marcel from Brazil, who has been living in Bali for four years.
But he doesn’t sound convinced. – dpa
