«Let's introduce a visit quota for the next 100 years»
While the domestic tourism industry is asking the Indonesian authorities to officially cancel covid entry formalities (in fact, they are no longer applied, they remain only on paper) , the Bali authorities are seriously considering the introduction of a «waiting list» to visit the island. Quotas, according to the Balinese governor, will affect all foreigners, but Russians, as the most undisciplined guests, will have to sign up for “fabulous Bali” a year in advance.
Russian tour operators are concerned about clients who are afraid of vaccinations (Indonesia has not yet officially canceled the requirement for a vaccination certificate from foreigners upon entry, although Indonesian border guards have not asked for it for a long time).
– But while there are requirements, albeit conditional, – explain to us in the travel agency working with the resorts of Bali, – counterparties and carriers must comply with them. That is, we warn customers about the need for a vaccination certificate. This scares away those who do not have it, or have it, but 2-3 years ago, and they do not want to be revaccinated.
At the same time, the governor of Bali, Mr. Wayan Kostner, came up with an unexpected proposal – introduce a quota for visiting the island for all foreigners, and for the «most troublesome» – for the next century.
The Balinese head sees the technical implementation of his idea in putting tourists on the waiting list a year before the planned trip, which, according to the island governor, “will limit mass tourism, and with it the number troublemakers».
Judging by quotes from Mr. Kostner's speech in the Indonesian media, the head of the island makes no secret of the fact that his irritation is addressed primarily to the Russians: “Most of the tourists who misbehave in Bali are from Russia. We have already deported someone, others are being tried on the spot according to Indonesian laws. Since the beginning of 2023, 101 foreigners have been expelled from the country, of which 27 are citizens of the Russian Federation. At the same time, today there are more than 50 thousand of our fellow citizens on the island: the smallest part of them – «bags», vacationers on tours. All the rest arrived «indefinitely».
– There are no direct flights to Indonesia from the Russian Federation, so the tours are expensive, the logistics are complicated, as a result of which the so-called «packagers», who arrived on the tour from Russia for a week or two, are few in Bali, – explains a Russian-speaking employee of a travel agency in Nusa Dua (an elite area of Bali. –). – The rest – winterers and relocants.
The governor of the island even hinted transparently in the local press that these were guests «eating packaged rice.» For Indonesians, this is an allegorical designation for greed or poverty, or both at once. And the locals, for all their friendliness, are already so annoyed that Russian relocators violate local laws and customs: they allow them to stay in the country after the expiration of their visas, they work illegally, taking away jobs from the natives, and every now and then they arrange all sorts of start-ups, including and outright fraudulent. There has been a lot of complaints about this lately. And after Pengubengan, the governor was simply obliged to speak out publicly.
Pengubengan, which became the last straw in the patience of the Balinese authorities, – it is a sacred temple from the Besakih complex at the foot of Mount Agung. Two 35-year-old citizens of the Russian Federation in the company of a 37-year-old Russian were noticed by local residents there «obscenely posing and dancing», which was reported to the tourist police.
The incident, insulting to the feelings of the residents of Bali, has already become the third manifestation of blatant disrespect for local customs by Russians in the last month alone (in the last days of April, a Russian tourist got into a fight with a Balinese clergyman, Jro Mangku Budi Utama, right on the road in the Ubud area in a traffic jam; & nbsp; with a fist in the face, Utama wrote a statement to the police. –).
– And before that, there were naked intimate parts of the bodies of compatriots against the backdrop of Balinese shrines – and what just was not! – sighs the Russian-speaking guide of the Balinese five-star. – So the quotas for a hundred years are addressed to us, there is no doubt about it.
Three Russian defilers of Pengubengan – now at the Singaraja District Immigration Office awaiting the verdict. The head of this office says that their violation of the law is so serious (the details of the dances and poses of the Russians are not disclosed for religious reasons) that they cannot give any forecasts from the authorities: “Deportation and fines – this is at best, sorry, but our patience is over.