Bali’s tourism leaders have set themselves the task of luring visitors away from the southern hotspots of Canggu and Seminyak and head instead for the island’s less crowded north coast.
Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Sandiaga Uno, hopes attractions in the north such as trekking on Mount Batur and experiences with dolphins will appeal to visitors who have been frustrated with traffic jams and poor behaviour by foreign tourists in the south.
Traffic jams in Bali are nothing new but the chaos around Ngurah Rai airport on 30 December, when cars queued for four kilometres to reach the international terminal - and some passengers hopped out of their taxis and ran with their bags to catch planes – has highlighted the traffic congestion brought about by Bali’s popularity with tourists.
Locals are calling for more transport infrastructure, including a light rail system, to be developed to avoid gridlock on the roads.
Even the new IDR 150,000 (US$9.60) tourism tax, due to be introduced from 14 February, is unlikely to stem the flow of international tourists to Bali. While the new tax has been introduced with a promise that it would be used to preserve Bali’s culture and heritage, it is now being earmarked to tackle the island’s waste management problem.