Date for new Bali tourism tax revealed, sooner than anticipated

Indonesia is to introduce a new tourist levy next year in a focus on "high-quality tourism". Photo / Unsplash

Bali has set a start date for a controversial tourist tax, as part of the holiday island’s ongoing tourism shake-up.

From February 14 — Valentine’s Day — international visitors will be charged 150,000 Indonesian rupiah (about $16 ) to enter the island. The new tourist tariff is per person and will apply to children.

The date was confirmed to local media by Tjok Bagus Pemayun, head of the Bali Tourism Office at a conference last week, announcing the tourist tax would be introduced earlier than first anticipated.

Balin Governor Wayan Koster said revenue from the new entry levy would be used to “preserve the environment, nature, and culture as well as improving quality”.

As it stands, the tax would be applied per entry to Bali at ports and airports — so daytrippers to neighbouring Gili or Lombok islands will be charged again on return.

This entry tax would be on top of processing fees for visa on arrival, for travellers from countries like New Zealand that are part of the 30-day visa waiver scheme.

Tourists will have to pay the new tourist tax separately to the INR500,000 ($53) VOA fee, according to the Bali Sun, because it is a provincial levy collected by Bali.

Other details revealed at the conference were that the tourist tax would have to be paid either in local currency or credit card, and 20 agents would be assigned to collect payments at Denpasar Airport to speed up processing and minimise congestion.

The tourist tax comes at a time when the resort island has drastically reimagined its relationship with international tourism.

Earlier this year a tourism taskforce, the Bali Becik, was created to police tourist behaviour and visa abuse in the island. The introduction of a hotline to report unruly foreign tourists was also set up.