Foreign Tourists in Bali Are Now Prohibited from Renting Motorbikes, What Will Happen for Rental Businesses Owned by Local Residents?

Bali Governor Wayan Koster in a press conference regarding the prosecution of rogue foreigners in Bali/PHOTO: Dafi-VOI

DENPASAR - Bali Governor I Wayan Koster has banned foreign tourists from renting/renting motorbikes while traveling on the Island of the Gods. What about the fate of the motorbike rental business owned by local residents?

Koster explained that the provincial government already has a number of regulations governing foreign nationals through the Governor of Bali's regulation regarding tourism governance in this province, including a prohibition for foreign nationals to use motorized vehicles.

"So the tourists have to travel by road using cars from travel agents. It is no longer allowed to use vehicles that are not from travel agents. Borrowing or renting is no longer allowed," he said, Sunday, March 12.

Based on the results of the prosecution by the Bali Police, it was found that many tourists, especially foreign tourists, violated traffic rules, starting from not wearing clothes while driving, not wearing a helmet to not having a license to drive.

The Governor said the change in the rules would only take effect in 2023 after the COVID-19 pandemic to improve the tourism system which is not only oriented towards the number of tourist visits each year, but maintains cultured tourism.

Koster hopes that with the enactment of the new policy this year, Bali tourism will become more qualified with law and order enforcement, especially for foreign tourists.

This policy, he continued, could only be executed this year considering that in the previous year, Bali tourism was quiet because there were no tourist visits.

"Why now? Because we are currently cleaning up because of the pandemic, we don't apply it because there aren't any tourists. Now it's starting to be arranged," said the Governor.

In the future, he said, the local provincial government will tighten supervision of foreigners traveling to Bali considering the large number of tourists who abuse their residence permits.

Koster said that his party along with the foreigner monitoring team would take firm action against tourists who violate the rules in Bali.

"Those who disturb the convenience of tourism, the comfort, beauty, and cultural richness of Bali, after coordinating with the Regional Police Chief and the Regional Office of the Bali Ministry of Law and Human Rights, to take firm action against tourists, tourists, foreign nationals whose actions are not in accordance with the legal norms in force in Indonesia and culture in Bali in particular," he said.