Travellers wishing to visit Indonesia's most popular tourist destination, Bali, will have to pay $10 per person from next year, the island's tourism department announced.
Proceeds from the tourist tax will go towards environmental and heritage protection on the island, known for its picturesque beaches, Hindu temples and rice terraces. Tourists will have to pay the $10 upon arrival in Bali, and they will be given a receipt and sticker which they have to keep until they leave again.
Bali has a population of around 4.2 million, but it welcomed more than 6.2 million tourists in 2019 (before Covid-19). "The policy is expected to increase foreign tourists' awareness of the civilisation of Bali's environment and culture," said Putu Astawa, the head of the island's tourism department.
Local authorities announced earlier that they wanted to make Bali a destination for "quality tourists" who respect the local culture and environment. This was in response to a series of scandals involving foreign visitors, such as two Russian bloggers who stripped in sacred sites and a German woman who disrupted a ceremony in a temple naked.
