Top holiday destination introduce tourist tax
A top holiday destination is set to introduce a tourist tax, charging visitors just under £10 to enter.
Bali, an Indonesian island and one of Asia’s top holiday destinations, will start charging tourists from next year.
Island officials confirmed the tax which has been introduced to help the destination preserve its culture.
International tourists will have to pay a $10 (£7.70) fee to travel to the island which attracts millions of visitors each year.
The tax will be paid electronically but will not apply to domestic Indonesian nationals. Tourists visiting from other Indonesian islands will need to pay.
I Wayan Koster, island’s governor, said: “The payment of a fee for foreign tourists applies only one time during their visit to Bali.”
He said he doubted that the tax would put people off visiting the island and said: “It’s not a problem.
“We will use it for the environment (and) culture, and we will build better quality infrastructure so travelling to Bali will be more comfortable and safe.”
Bali has had several issues with tourists behaving badly in recent months and has attempted to crack down on rowdy behaviour.
A Russian woman who posed naked in front of a sacred tree was deported from the destination in April.
The chairman of Bali’s Tourism Board said he hoped the tax would prevent Bali from becoming only known as a “cheap destination”.
The island is also planning to ban tourists from renting motorbikes after several incidents with visitors not wearing helmets.
Tourist taxes are fairly common around the world and are in place in areas of Spain, Italy and Germany.
Manchester recently became the first city in the UK to charge a tourist tax although several other hotspots have discussed doing so.
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