A few bad eggs in Bali have ruined it for the rest of us, meaning foreigners could soon be banned from riding motorbikes around the popular tourist destination.
This proposed ban, which could come into effect later this year, would mean tourists can only drive cars rented from travel agents.
Bali’s governor, Wayan Koster, said the ban was aimed at ensuring public safety.
“As tourists, [you should] act as tourists, instead of roaming around on motorbikes, without T-shirts and clothes, without helmets, violating [traffic rules] – and all this without a licence,” he said.
As international travellers have returned to Bali, more than 171 tourists were fined for traffic offences from late February to early March, police records reported. Some travellers were even caught riding around with fake licenses.
But some local bike-rental businesses are concerned about the impact this could have, particularly considering the hit they copped over the pandemic.
Sudana Bujangga Waisnawa, a 53-year-old motorbike-rental business owner, called on the government to axe the plan.
“It is restricting us. We just recovered back to normal after the COVID-19 pandemic and now, with this, how can we (survive)? Not to mention the taxes we have to pay.”
The Balinese government also recently proposed a campaign to crack down on tourist dress and behaviour. Bali’s Tourism Board wants to install billboards to encourage travellers to “respect Balinese cultural customs,” the boards chairman Ida Bagus Agung Partha Adnyana said.
“The point is that tourists respect Balinese cultural customs by dressing well and neatly, following in an orderly manner, carrying out traffic activities and not doing things that are outside the provisions,” Adnyana told The Bali Sun.
The billboards will be installed at popular tourist spots such as Kuta, Seminyak, Legian, Canggu, Ubud, Sanur, Nusa Dua, and Uluwatu.
