Bali continues to push a harder line on tourist behaviour, with its latest move encouraging locals to report dodgy travellers to authorities.

Immigration officials have launched a hotline for concerned citizens to dob in tourists who have been behaving badly on the island, The Bali Sun states.

A ‘Bali Becik (Good) Task Force’ has also been established, dedicated to eliminating disrespectful and illegal behaviour by foreigners in the Indonesian province until the end of the year.

“We, from the Bali Becik Task Force, invite the people of Bali to report foreigners who violate [to] the hotline number 08 139 9679 966,” said Silmy Karim, Indonesia’s director general of immigration.

“Community participation is certainly very much needed in supervising and taking action against unruly tourists.”

Indonesia has increasingly focused on getting the community involved in maintaining the rule of law, with the controversial ‘bonk ban’ introduced last year relying on close family members of law breakers to report acts of premarital or extramarital sex to authorities.

Frequent deportations

Mr Karim blamed a rise in cases of tourists misbehaving for the creation of the task force, which aims to “minimise the actions of naughty tourists” in Bali.

He also indicated tourists on lower budgets are behind much of the trouble the island has seen.

“The main problem regarding foreigners in Bali is the large number of foreign tourists with low spending who often make trouble,” he said.

The Bali Becik Task Force has a team of 25 officers with a target of 100 control operations on misbehaving tourists every month.

Many of these operations are expected to result in deportations.

Even before the establishment of the task force, Bali has been keen to deport unruly foreigners.

Just one of the island’s immigration offices, Ngurah Rai Immigration, is reported to have received 4366 formal complaints against foreigners in the first quarter of 2023.

These complaints resulted in 85 deportations of foreigners – including eight Australians – due to law, order, cultural or visa violations.

Series of crackdowns on tourists

Bali, a long-time favourite tourism destination, has been increasingly intolerant of misbehaving tourists in recent months.

Holidaymakers letting loose on the island is not a new issue, but it seems to be one of many international holiday destinations that have experienced a rise in poor behaviour post-pandemic border closures.

Local lawmakers seem keen for tourists to lose their ‘anything goes’ mentality.

In March, it was reported a campaign by Bali’s Tourist Board encouraging tourists to respect Balinese cultural customs would include billboards at the province’s popular tourist spots detailing behavioural guidelines for proper etiquette.

Also this year, Bali began distributing a list of ‘dos and don’ts’ to incoming travellers.

These guidelines included instructions to behave politely in sacred areas, comply with local road rules and to avoid littering.

Bali now provides behavioural guidelines for tourists. Photo: Denpasar Immigration Office

“The point is that tourists respect Balinese cultural customs by dressing well and neatly, following in an orderly manner, carrying out traffic activities and not doing things that are outside the provisions,” Ida Bagus Agung Partha Adnyana, Bali’s Tourist Board chairman, told The Bali Sun at the time.

“Guests are king, but don’t abuse.”