Bali Calls for Temporary Halt on Hotel and Beach Club Construction to Address Tourism Issues

BALI, RAKYAT NEWS — Bali’s Acting Governor, Sang Made Mahendra Jaya, has proposed a 1-2 year moratorium on the construction of hotels, villas, nightclubs, and beach clubs in the Sarbagita region (Denpasar, Badung, Gianyar, and Tabanan). This proposal aims to address and improve the quality of tourism in Bali.

Speaking at the Hipmi Bali training event at Primakara University in Denpasar on Saturday, Sang Made highlighted the need for this moratorium to address issues related to land conversion and the Online Single Submission (OSS) licensing system, which currently bypasses local regulations.

“I was surprised to see on TikTok that cliff cutting and new large beach clubs appeared suddenly in Tabanan and Denpasar without our knowledge,” said Sang Made.

He expressed concerns about rapid land conversion and the unregulated sale of alcoholic beverages, which sometimes leads to undesirable behaviors by foreign tourists.

The Bali Provincial Government hopes that a high-level meeting led by the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment (Kemenko Marves) will result in a presidential instruction to enforce the proposed moratorium. This step is expected to help manage and plan the region’s tourism sector more effectively.

The Acting Governor noted that the central government has responded positively to the proposal, given the numerous issues that have surfaced and become widely discussed on social media. Additionally, there are concerns that poorly regulated permits are allowing foreign nationals to take jobs away from local workers. (Uki Ruknuddin)