Looking to deter disrespectful tourists Bali authorities to advise visitors of 'dos and don'ts'

In the wake of a number of incidents of foreign visitors to Bali behaving inappropriately, authorities on the Indonesian island are to issue a card listing of 12 ‘dos’ and eight ‘don'ts’ for arriving international tourists.

With mass tourism returning to Bali, the island has experienced a series of incidents involving disrespectful foreign tourists, resulting in more than 130 deportations so far this year.

Warning they will cancel visas amid a wave of tourist misbehaviour, Balinese authorities will distribute its new to all arrivals at Denpasar airport from June.

In a circular issued for Government Departments on the Indonesian island, Governor Wayan Koster signed off on the list of ‘dos’ and eight ‘don'ts’ for international tourists, one week after a video of a naked German woman disrupting a traditional dance performance at a temple went viral.

She was placed in a mental health facility by local authorities, but nudity at holy sites has been a recurring theme, with two Russian bloggers deported in recent months, one for posing nude on a sacred tree and the other for dropping his pants at a volcano regarded as holy by Hindu Balinese.

Now for the first time, climbing holy trees or posing naked at cultural or religious sites is being clearly spelled out as prohibited under guidelines that apply across the whole island.

Governor Wayan says the rules aim to restore "quality and dignity" to Bali's tourism sector, which is still recovering after shutting down completely during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Entering certain holy sites for reasons other than praying, behaving disrespectfully at temples and going nude or wearing immodest clothing all make the "don't" list for tourists.

As does acting aggressively or using offensive language towards police and other government workers, partly in response to a viral video of an Australian woman in March who yelled at several policemen who stopped her for riding a scooter without a helmet.

The Head of the Regional Office of the Bali Ministry of Law and Human Rights, Anggiat Napitupulu, explained that “the card will be … handed over at Immigration, so that it can tucked into the foreigner's passport when they land at I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport.”

While the guidelines fit largely in line with existing laws and cultural norms in Bali, their promotion is seen as an order to step up enforcement by various agencies on the island.

Bali's borders were closed to international tourists for about two years due to the pandemic, and more than a year after the reopening, the island is yet to bounce back to pre-pandemic numbers.

Government figures show about 13,000 to 15,000 tourists a day are arriving, down from the peak of 18,000 before COVID-19.

Image: Tourists at Bali's Tirta Empul Temple at Tampaksiring village. Credit: Shutterstock.