No more mountain activities for tourists in Bali? Here’s why

Bali bans tourists from mountains

Beautiful Bali continues to be one of the most popular island destinations for tourists from around the world.

With some of the recent ‘bad behaviour’ from these tourists, however, the nation is looking to put measures into place to help deal with these issues.

On such measure, is the banning of all tourists from Bali’s mountains. The Governor of Bali, Wayan Koster, announced a ban on all tourist activities in its mountains with ‘immediate effect’ in a recent news conference.

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The Governer’s decision was made after a series of indecent events occured in the mountains including public displays of nudity, serious injuries to tourists and bad behaviour.

 He claimed that in order to preserve the sacred peaks amid the increasing violations by misbehaving tourists, the ban had to be instated. 

“These mountains are sacred and revered. If their sanctity is damaged, it is the same as degrading the sacredness of Bali. This ban is in effect forever and is not only for foreign tourists but also domestic tourists and local residents” Koster said as per reports.

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The ban has been placed on 22 Bali mountains including Mount Batur and Mount Agung, which are very popular for activities like mountain climbing and hiking.

Tourists also being deported

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Tourists have also been getting the boot from Bali all year-long, Travel News says, after they were caught behaving badly, disrespecting local culture and religion, overstaying visas and violating visa rules.

From January 2023 to May 2023 over 130 international tourists were deported from the island because of misconduct ranging from illegal cryptocurrency trading, breaching tourist visa rules, desecration at sacred monuments to public indecency, attempting to pass off fake visas and identities and illegally engaging in business.

With the country being predominantly Hindu, many of its citizens practice religious ceremonies that many tourists, who come to beautiful Bali just to party, do not respect.

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