Going to Bali soon? You might have to squelch any thoughts of riding a motor scooter about town.
According to the Indonesian province, it has had enough of foreign visitors "roaming around with motorbikes, without wearing T-shirts and clothes, without helmets, and breaching [traffic rules]."
I Wayan Koster, the governor of Bali, said that tourists would only be permitted to rent cars via a travel agency or a local tourism business.
It happens in the midst of a reaction against motorcycle-riding visitors on the island, where police claim that over 171 foreigners disobeyed traffic laws in two weeks from late February to early March. Police have reported that some tourists drive with forged license plates.
"If you are a tourist, then act like a tourist," the governor stated during a press conference this week.
The restriction, he continued, will assist uphold standards to "guarantee quality and dignified tourism" since tourists are "disorderly and they misbehave."
"[Tourists] should use the cars arranged by travel operators, instead of going around on motorcycles, without T-shirts and clothes, without helmets, breaking [traffic rules], and even without a license," he said.
Putu Jayan Danu Putra, the inspector general of police and chief of the Bali regional police, underlined the significance of making sure tourists follow the law when renting cars.
He said, "We educate rental cars that will be rented to foreigners to always abide by existing traffic restrictions.
In recent years, social media has seen a large increase in the sharing of stories and films about foreign tourists breaking Bali's traffic laws.
They contain a video of a Russian Instagram user who performed a stunt in 2020 by flying his motorcycle off a dock. Additionally, a video of an Australian woman yelling at police after being stopped for riding a motorcycle without a helmet went viral.
Moreover, deaths have occurred. Englishman Michael Andrew, 36, was discovered dead in a bog in April with his scooter after allegedly going to a bar in the Legian neighborhood. He is thought to have been killed in a car accident, although there is no proof that he breached any laws prior to his death.
Most recently, in January of this year, a Russian tourist who was apparently driving while intoxicated was killed in a collision with a local, and a Ukrainian tourist died after losing control of his motorbike.
Time will tell if the new regulation will discourage travelers from visiting the island, which depends on tourism to help its recovery from a devastating virus. Historically, tourism has made up about 80% of Bali's income.
Bali's deputy governor, Tjokorda Oka Artha Ardana Sukawati, told local media, "More study is needed; we will then address the wrongs.
"With the riders that I have seen on the ground all this time, they can rent without having a license, which then leads to problems," the rider said.
According to the Ngurah Rai Immigration Office, the island's I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport (DPS) welcomed more than 2.1 million visitors in 2018 compared to 6.2 million in 2019.
Although it may appear to be a small portion of pre-pandemic levels, it is a substantial increase from the 34 visitors that came on the island in 2021.
About a third of the 2.1 million international visitors in 2022 were from outside of Australia (626,783), followed by visitors from Singapore (137,470), the United Kingdom (130,312), India (184,702), and the United States (130,312). (111,495).
Bali has also quickly developed into a safe haven for refugees from the wars that the Russian and Ukrainian governments are waging at home.
Almost ten times as many Russians as Ukrainians currently travel to Indonesia as tourists, many of whom came to escape the war's economic effects and the danger of forced enlistment.
Over 20,000 Russians have arrived in Bali each month since the Kremlin announced a partial mobilization of military reservists in September, according to statistics obtained by Bali's international airport.
As a result, the governor made public an intention to cancel visa-on-arrival authorizations for Russian and Ukrainian visitors. Koster claims that although people from the two nations have "flocked to Bali," they are not adhering by local laws.
"Why are these two nations? Due to the conflict between these two, people flee their home countries and swarm to Bali. Many of them travel to Bali not for recreation but rather comfort, especially for employment, according to Koster, who was mentioned in local media.
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