Indonesia has agreed to a moratorium on the construction of hotels, villas and nightclubs in some areas on the tourist island of Bali as the country struggles with overdevelopment of land, a senior ministry official said on September 9.
The moratorium is part of the government’s plan to reform tourism in Bali, one of Indonesia’s top tourist attractions, with the aim of improving quality and employment while preserving the island’s indigenous culture.
Hermin Esti, a senior official at the Coordinating Ministry of Maritime and Investment Affairs, told Reuters the government had agreed to impose a moratorium, though the exact timeline was still under discussion.
On Saturday, Bali’s interim governor, Sang Made Mahendra Jaya, said he had proposed to the central government to impose a moratorium on four busy areas in Bali, referring to the overdevelopment of areas for commercial purposes such as hotels, villas and beach clubs.
The governor’s office and Indonesia’s Tourism Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday.
The moratorium could last up to 10 years, Senior Minister Luhut Pandjaitan told the Detik news website on September 8.
Luhut previously said there are currently about 200,000 foreigners living in Bali, contributing to problems such as crime, overdevelopment and competition for jobs.
The number of foreign visitors to Bali has increased dramatically since the city reopened to tourism after the COVID-19 pandemic. Videos of misbehaving tourists often go viralwhich led to anger among residents and strong reactions from social media users in Indonesia.
Government figures show that 2.9 million foreign visitors arrived through Bali airport in the first half of the year, accounting for 65% of the total number of foreign visitors arriving in Indonesia by air.
Figures show there were 541 hotels in Bali last year, compared to 507 in 2019.
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