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Destinations Known | How Bali brings out the worst in tourists – Indonesian island sees increase in badly behaved visitors

  • Over the past two months, several separate incidents have drawn attention to how travellers act on the Island of the Gods
  • Bali’s governor has had enough, vowing to send disorderly travellers home in future

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Czech couple Sabina Dolezalova (centre) and Zdenek Slouka (left) pray ahead of a purification ritual at the Beji Temple, on Indonesia's resort island of Bali on August 15, after a disrespectful video they posted online went viral. Photo: AFP
Indonesia might have more than 17,000 islands, but there is only one Bali – at least for the moment. The Island of the Gods has proved so popular with tourists – according to Bali Statistics Agency, it welcomed 5.7 million international arrivals in 2017 – that the government wants to replicate its success across the archipelagic nation by creating “10 new Balis”. However, after an increase in incidents involving badly behaved visitors, authorities might want to re-evaluate how closely they mimic the popular destination’s model.
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According to various media reports, this summer alone an Indian family was caught stealing from a hotel and publicly shamed after a video of their stash being exposed went viral; a Muslim tourist brandished a knife at Balinese beachgoers, ordering them off the sand in front of his villa; a Russian traveller was jailed after being arrested at Denpasar airport for trying to smuggle an orangutan, two geckos and five lizards out of the country; having had rather too much to drink, an Australian man went on a half-naked rampage, fly-kicking a motorcyclist and jumping onto the bonnet of a moving car, among other misdemeanours; and a Czech couple caused outrage when they were caught on camera disrespecting a religious site. And that’s before we even get started on begpackers.

Of course, holidaymakers misbehave wherever they lay their sun hats, but there seems to be something about Bali that brings out the absolute worst in tourists. Perhaps, because, according to a recent article on Thrive Global, the digital wellness platform founded by Arianna Huffington, it is “known to be an energy vortex [ …] where your emotions and past karma get whirled up into one big feelings tornado.” So, maybe all those aforementioned misdeeds were manifestations of karmic revenge in the form of some seriously significant feelings tornadoes? No, Destinations Known doesn’t think so either.

What is it, then, that makes such miscreants leave their manners at the immigration counter?

Detained Russian national Andrei Zhestkov (centre), who was jailed in July for attempting to smuggle a two-year-old orangutan out of Indonesia. Photo: AFP / Natural Resources Conservation Agency of Bali
Detained Russian national Andrei Zhestkov (centre), who was jailed in July for attempting to smuggle a two-year-old orangutan out of Indonesia. Photo: AFP / Natural Resources Conservation Agency of Bali
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Last September, following a string of disrespectful behaviour at Bali’s temples, the island’s deputy governor, Tjokorda Oka Artha Sukawati, told British newspaper The Guardian that the island had experienced a decline in the type of traveller it attracted. “It is because we are too open with tourists, so too many come,” he said. Twelve months on and, if Google Alerts are anything to go by, it’s got even worse.

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