Bali turns to hotels, tourism workers to educate unruly tourists

Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Bali’s hotels and tourism workers are educating international visitors on local customs and appropriate behaviour in order to bring unruly tourists under control.

The Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) for Bali wants tourism officials to educate international guests on what they can and cannot do.

According to local news site NusaBali.com, PHRI Secretary, Perry Markus stated that the organisation and Bali’s tourism board had collaborated with nine stakeholders and printed posters. The objective is for the tourism industry to be proactive in predicting and preventing undesirable behaviour.

According to the Bali Sun, this could include tour guides not only showing tourists the sights but also instructing them on how to behave in the area.

Markus believes that tourists should be trained on how to dress correctly and follow the law when riding motorbikes, such as wearing a helmet and respecting traffic laws. Tourists are also advised not to drink in public and to only wear swimwear in appropriate settings.

Tourism workers also helped educate tourists on what not to publish on social media, such as an influencer who posed naked with a sacred tree or a man who posed semi-naked in a sacred place.

Getting hotels and tourism workers engaged in preventing misbehaviour by foreign guests is only one of several possible measures discussed in recent weeks.

Bali Governor Wayan Koster announced this month that he was urging the central government to prohibit Russian and Ukrainian visitors from obtaining visas on arrival in the nation owing to a high number of breaches, including getting jobs and overstaying the time allowed.

Russians have overtaken Australians as the second largest group of visitors to Bali.

Bali is also contemplating prohibiting all foreign visitors from riding motorcycles.

Bloomberg reported two weeks ago that Mr Koster had asked the legal ministry for permission to suspend passports for international visitors seen riding motorcycles in Bali.

Bali’s official effort to tighten down on tourist behaviour will involve not just leaflets and social media, but also massive billboards.

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