Indonesia plans to impose a moratorium on new-build hotels, villas and nightclubs in some areas of the popular resort island of Bali to tackle overdevelopment, Reuters reports.
Hermin Esti, a senior official at the Coordinating Ministry of Maritime and Investment Affairs, told the agency that the government had agreed on the moratorium, although its timing was still under discussion.
Bali’s interim governor, Sang Made Mahendra Jaya, had previously suggested the moratorium in four of Bali’s busy areas to the central government.
Senior minister Luhut Pandjaitan was quoted by news website Detik as saying the moratorium could stretch up to 10 years.
Reuters reports that Luhut earlier complained on his Instagram page that foreign tourists were bringing “narcotics, gangs, and other issues” to Bali, saying “we don’t want them to enter Bali anymore”.
Luhut said some 200,000 foreigners now lived on the island.
Tourism has surged in Bali after the covid pandemic.
Reuters said government figures show 2.9 million foreign visitors arrived through Bali airport in the first half of this year, making up 65% of total foreign arrivals in Indonesia by air.
There were 541 hotels in Bali last year, the figures show, up from 507 in 2019, Reuters found.
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