To deal with the problem of misbehaving tourists in Bali, Additional officers will be stationed at key destinations to increase surveillance.
The director general of the Indonesian Immigration Department has already established a tourism task force, the Bali Becik Task Force, together with teams from the provincial government. In response to the ongoing challenges, it was announced that another team would be deployed to monitor tourist behavior.
The Bali Civil Service’s Saptol PP will establish a special tourism task force. The Surabaya model will be adopted by Bali, creating Bali tourism Saptol PP unit.
According to Made Ponda Wirawan, chairman of the Badung Regency DPRD, the idea has been discussed for some time and resources are now being pooled to make the unity a reality.
“It is very urgent and very important that we also have a Tourism Satpol PP in Badung. Moreover, the behavior of the foreign tourists now in Badung Regency is not all the same and some of them are a bit viral,” Wirawan told reporters.
The Bali Tourism Saptol PP team would be deployed in the first half of 2024, Wirawan said. The team’s officials would be responsible for monitoring and carrying out general security activities in Badung.
The team’s officers will serve as a point of contact for travelers needing assistance or information, so they must be fluent in English.
Wirawan continued: “The 2024 plan can already be implemented in every region. We will assign people to each Tourist Attraction (DTW) and we will use the staff we have.”
He added, “We will first prioritize busy tourist attractions, for example Kuta Beach, Pandawa Beach and Pecatu. This means there are at least two in South Kuta, two in Kuta and two in North Kuta.”
Areas with high visitor traffic will have at least two teams, and each Bali Tourism Saptol PP unit will consist of 6 to 10 officers.
This is yet another unmistakable indication from the Bali authorities that they take disrespectful guests seriously. This year has seen a significant increase in the number of foreigners behaving illegally or culturally offensively.
Although Bali is expected to have 6 million international arrivals this year and the proportion of problem tourists is relatively low, the number of incidents is increasing, especially compared to the pre-pandemic period.
The establishment of the Bali Tourism Civil Service Units is just one of many initiatives being taken by the authorities to combat the problem and ensure that well-behaved visitors to Bali continue to have an enjoyable stay.
