Tourists may have to sign up a year before departure to visit the “paradise island” of Bali – a recently mega-popular resort. The governor of Bali, Wayan Koster, proposed another initiative to sort and screen tourists.
Under this initiative, Bali may introduce tourist quotas, which will limit the number of travelers allowed to enter the island. The main reason for this measure, as reported by the press of Indonesia, is the desire to get rid of “cheap” tourists who outrage the entire local population. And in the first place, the head of Bali mentioned the Russian among them.
As the governor stated, he is “unsatisfied with the growing number of tourists who break the rules and show disrespect for local culture.” “We will no longer welcome mass tourism. We will limit the number of tourists by introducing a quota system,” said Mr. Koster. He added that one possible quota system would require foreign tourists to register a year in advance of their planned visit to Bali and wait their turn to enter. “If there is a quota, people will have to stand in line. Those who want to come next year can register now. This is the system we want to apply,” the governor assured.
“If we continue in the same spirit, we will only attract cheap tourists who eat only nasi bungkus (a rice dish wrapped in banana leaves or paper), while renting motorbikes and breaking traffic rules and even stealing from ATMs” – said Chairman Bali. At the same time, he named Russian “relocators” as the most problematic tourists, adding that almost a third of all deported tourists – or 27 foreigners out of 101 – and this has been since January.
We will remind that Russian tourists give reasons for these angry remarks. Only on May 4, a group of Russian tourists was arrested in Bali for misbehaving at the Pengubengan temple – a sacred place for residents and the largest Hindu temple on the resort island. The Russians — two 35-year-old women and a 37-year-old man — were detained for dancing and posing inappropriately in a sacred place, which caused a serious reaction from the authorities. The offenders were caught in the city of Ubud, where another incident took place last week: a Russian tourist and a priest got into a fistfight right on the road while cars were stuck in traffic. The fight was captured by eyewitness cameras, and the video went viral on social networks.
The second question is whether such desirable “luxury” tourists for Bali will want to come “for the quota” and wait a year. Especially taking into account numerous competitors who do not plan to introduce such measures.