Trump, traffic, trash: why Bali is losing its shine for Chinese tourists

As the US-China trade war takes a toll on Chinese tourist arrivals in Bali, the Indonesian island is turning to high-end tourism to fill the gap

First it must tackle ‘shut up and eat your soup’ zero-pricing tours and increasingly polluted beaches

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The Gates of Heaven at Lempuyang Temple, a popular tourist destination in Bali. More than 6.5 million people visited the island in 2018, but tourism growth has slowed. Photo: Handout

Published: 11:00am, 4 Jan 2020Updated: 8:44pm, 17 Feb 2020

Trouble is brewing in Indonesia’s “Island of the Gods” and it seems there are plenty of things to blame: Donald Trump, cheap tours aimed at the Chinese market, and worsening pollution.

The number of Chinese tourists visiting Bali last year dropped 35 per cent, raising eyebrows throughout the hospitality sector and putting in jeopardy China’s crown as the island’s leading source of visitors, ahead of Australia.

According to the Bali Tourism Board, the overall number of visitors to the island for the first 10 months of the year grew by only 1.2 per cent, compared to more than 15 per cent in 2017. More than 6.5 million people visited Bali in 2018, with no guarantee that the popular tourist destination would match this number for 2019.

A plane takes off from Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport. The number of tourists from China has dropped 35 per cent. Photo: Reuters

The dramatic drop is part of a region-wide slowdown in tourism from the Chinese mainland, which analysts and industry players say was triggered by the US-China trade war initiated by US President Donald Trump.

“It’s not just Bali. If you look at Thailand, it’s the same thing – down 35 per cent, I think,” said IB Agung Bagus Partha Adnyana, chairman of the Bali Tourism Board.

Trump, traffic, trash: why Bali is losing its shine for Chinese tourists

As the US-China trade war takes a toll on Chinese tourist arrivals in Bali, the Indonesian island is turning to high-end tourism to fill the gap First it must tackle ‘shut up and eat your soup’ zero-pricing tours and increasingly polluted beaches

As the US-China trade war takes a toll on Chinese tourist arrivals in Bali, the Indonesian island is turning to high-end tourism to fill the gap

First it must tackle ‘shut up and eat your soup’ zero-pricing tours and increasingly polluted beaches