Indonesia's Bali wants to ban building of hotels, villas, media say

FILE PHOTO: A couple walk along the beach in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, November 17, 2022.REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan/File Photo

Indonesia's tourist resort island of Bali has proposed a ban lasting a year or two on the construction of hotels, villas and nightclubs in some areas, as it grapples with the problem of over-development of land, its governor told the media.

The plan has been suggested to the central government, which wants to reform tourism on Bali, one of Indonesia's main attractions, in a bid to boost tourism quality and jobs while preserving the island's indigenous culture.

The moratorium on the busy areas of Denpasar, Badung, Gianyar, and Tabanan takes aim at over-development for commercial purposes, such as beach clubs, said Sang Made Mahendra Jaya, the island's interim governor.

"We want to reform it," the news website Detik quoted him as saying. "Hopefully there will be an instruction related to the moratorium on the construction of hotels, villas, discotheques, and beach clubs ... for one to two years."

The governor's office and Indonesia's tourism ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday.

The government would discuss the plan for a two-year moratorium, which could stretch up to 10, senior minister Luhut Pandjaitan has said, however, the Jakarta Post newspaper reported the previous day.

His ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Recently Luhut said about 200,000 foreigners now live in Bali, contributing to problems such as crime, over-development and competition for jobs.

Foreign arrivals in Bali have surged since it re-opened for tourism after the COVID-19 pandemic. Videos of misbehaving tourists often go viral, angering residents and sparking harsh responses from social media users in Indonesia.

Government figures show 2.9 million foreign visitors arrived through Bali airport in the first half of the year, making up 65 percent of total foreign arrivals by air.

There were 541 hotels in Bali last year, the figures show, up from 507 in 2019.