Key Points
- Bali is once again on an international tourism 'no go' list.
- Indonesian officials say they are determined to rid the holiday hot spot of badly behaved visitors.
- A seasoned Australian traveller says it's still possible to find pristine parts of 'old Bali'.
Toni Pollard first visited Bali in 1967, a year after she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and Diploma of Education from the University of Sydney. She has visited the so-called ‘Island of the Gods’ 80 times since then.
"The rice fields, the narrow roads, very few vehicles on the roads, we went everywhere by bemo (minibus) or rode a bike," she recounted to SBS Indonesian.
There was no plastic. Everything you bought was wrapped in banana leaves or newspaper. Kitchen utensils were made of wood, bamboo or tin.Toni Pollard
The 80-year-old retired Indonesian language teacher then compared her visits in the 1970s to her most recent Bali holiday in late 2023.
"The horrific difference is the volume of traffic and the over-development of the hotels and other infrastructure specifically for tourists which has taken away the rice fields of Bali which were magic to me," she said.
Toni Pollard in her son’s garden in Ubud, Bali, in 2017. Credit: Toni Pollard
The yearly list, compiled by the US-based travel guide, highlights destinations that are loved by tourists but now considered untenable due to their popularity.
"Rapid, unchecked development spurred by overtourism is encroaching on Bali’s natural habitats, eroding its environmental and cultural heritage, and creating a 'plastic apocalypse'," the publication says.
This is not the first time Bali has been included on this list. In 2020, Bali was added due to waste and environmental reasons.
This reason was also what drove local government authorities to implement a tourist tax on arrivals since February last year, which saw a 150,000 rupiah ($15) aimed at "the protection of the culture and environment in Bali".
Rubbish strewn on Bali Island's Kuta Beach, December 2024. Source: EPA / MADE NAGI/EPA/AAP Photos
"Toxic" behaviour, especially from foreigners, is also considered to be damaging to Bali's reputation as a tourist destination, he said.
There was a lack of vigilance from authorities such as immigration regarding the activities carried out by these tourists while staying in Bali, he added.
The country's national news agency that 226 foreign nationals were arrested in Bali during 2024 for various offences including cyber crime and drug offences with foreigners from the US, Australia and Russia the top three numbers of offenders successively.
The first female Indonesian senator for Bali, Ni Luh Putu Ary Pertami Djelantik, is a vocal advocate of keeping her hometown safe.
Djelantik has highlighted the issue of foreigners who are not only disrespectful to Balinese culture and traditions but also might have questionable documentation concerning their stays and work rights in Indonesia.
Bali is experiencing "overtourism with (badly behaved) tourists taking advantage and treating local residents (badly)".
This followed a case where a foreigner allegedly did not pay for their Ubud accommodation, causing more than 5 million rupiah ($500) in losses.
When did things change?
For Pollard, the 1970s was when the Balinese tourism landscape changed.
She said she remembered that time as being when Balinese people started to put posters up outside the temples telling ‘bule’ — Indonesian meaning 'white-skinned foreigners' — that they had to dress appropriately if they wanted to enter.
"Obviously there was a lot of disrespectful people who would come from the beach in their bikini tops and go into towns and into temples," Pollard said, adding that Bali changed when the "hippies and surfers" started arriving.
"Everything was much more oriented towards Balinese people and Balinese culture back at that time rather than tourists as it seems to be today."
According to the Bali Province Central Statistics Agency, the number of foreigner visits via airport and port in Bali throughout 2024 was over 6.3 million, with Australia the biggest country of origin with more than 1.5 million visitors.
Newly elected Bali governor, I Wayan Koster, says he wants to clamp down on tourists misbehaving on motorbikes, not wearing helmets, and wearing inappropriate clothes. Credit: Agung Parameswara/Getty Images
"I think the most attractive thing about Bali is definitely the people and the culture because you get to experience a whole different culture. The people are quite friendly," she told SBS Indonesian.
But she noted locals had mentioned Bali was being changed for the worse.
Governor of Bali elect for 2025-2030, I Wayan Koster, that he would clear Bali of disrespectful foreign tourists.
"I don't want any more tourists misbehaving on motorbikes, not wearing helmets, wearing inappropriate clothes, violating traffic," Koster said.
"I don't want any more spas as prostitution, I don't want any more illegal villas and tourists working illegally.
"The problems of traffic jams, rubbish and clean water are urgent matters that must be resolved immediately," added Koster, who in 2023 proposed to revoke the Visa on Arrival for Russian and Ukrainian nationals.
Russian Ambassador to Indonesia Sergei Tolchenov downplayed the issue, "I don’t believe the people accusing Russian tourists of being the worst among foreign visitors who don’t obey local laws".
However, he said that his government had considered opening a consulate in Denpasar, the capital of Bali province, in an effort to resolve conflicts of its citizens visiting Bali.
Would you still visit Bali?
Bianca said while she had not yet had any "bad experiences" in Bali, she suggested potential tourists should "do their homework before visiting the island or anywhere else for that matter".
"If you’re going in wet season, with Asia, just with the waste management, there is a lot of waste that does get washed up along the coast (so it’s important to know) what area that that would occur on," she said.
"If you’re going to be travelling anywhere in the world, I’d definitely still recommend Bali for someone who wanted to visit it and has never been."
Bali's rice fields are worth seeking out. Credit: Pexels
"Try and get off the beaten track. Go on back roads which are not jammed with traffic. You need to know a couple of little ways to get up into these rice fields by going up little back alleys and so on," she explained.
"But once you’re out there, suddenly you’re in another world."
*surname withheld for privacy reasons
