NusaBali reports that Governor Wayan Koster warns that, despite the Island achieving 16.3 million tourist visitors in 2025, Bali faces numerous challenges, including traffic congestion, increasing waste volumes, and threats to clean water availability, which require an accelerated approach to infrastructure and regional development.
Governor Koster expressed his concerns while outlining the state of Bali’s tourism at the Bali Regional Development Coordination Meeting held at the Governor’s Office in Denpasar on Monday, 20 July 2026. Before 2025, Bali predicted it would welcome approximately 7.05 million foreign and 9.3 million domestic visitors. This aggregate total of 16.3 million visitors is nearly four times Bali’s total population of some 4.5 million.
According to Koster, Bali remains the main gateway for foreign tourist visits to Indonesia, contributing 45.8 percent of the total national foreign tourist visits.
This high number of tourist visits also made a significant impact on the regional economy. The average expenditure of foreign tourists is estimated at US$1,522 per visit, resulting in a total value put at Rp176 trillion, or nearly half of the total economic contribution of the national tourism industry,
Bali’s tourism sector makes a significant contribution to Bali’s overall economic growth, which reached 5.82 percent in 2025. This achievement has many positive impacts, including the lowest poverty rate in Indonesia at 3.42 percent, an unemployment rate of only 1.45 percent, and a steadily increasing per capita income.
Koster cites the “high mobility” and ever-changing characteristics of modern tourists as giving rise to numerous issues that need to be addressed to prevent any decline in Bali’s quality as a top tourism destination.
Land conversion issues, increased waste production, damage to the Island’s ecosystem, threats to clean water availability, and traffic congestion are just some of the challenges currently facing the Island of the Gods.
”Our infrastructure and public services are not yet fully able to keep pace with the increase in activity. Congestion is a major concern,” said Koster. To address these challenges, the Bali Provincial Government has prepared several strategic programs.
These include strengthening source-based waste management at the household level, expanding clean water supply in vulnerable areas such as Karangasem and Jembrana Regencies, developing gas-fired power plants to strengthen energy security, encouraging the development of organic farming, and accelerating road infrastructure development to improve inter-regional connectivity.
Furthermore, the Bali Provincial Government is also promoting the development of sea logistics routes through the Ketapang-Gilimanuk route to Karangasem. This route is expected to reduce traffic congestion on the main roads, which have been a major cause of congestion, especially during the holiday season and religious holidays.
Koster emphasized that increasing infrastructure capacity is crucial to maintaining the competitiveness of Bali’s tourism sector amid an ever-increasing number of tourists.
”If congestion is not addressed immediately, Bali risks a decline in destination quality and tourism competitiveness. Therefore, increasing infrastructure capacity must be a priority to ensure that tourism growth continues to align with environmental sustainability and community well-being,” Koster emphasized.
He hopes that infrastructure development, environmental management, and strengthening public services can go hand in hand so that Bali can maintain its position as a leading global tourist destination without neglecting environmental sustainability and the well-being of local communities.
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