BaliPost reports that Bali’s Badung Regency has canceled its long-standing plan to undertake an October 2026 tourism promotional mission to Fujisawa, Japan. The elaborate tourism mission has been in planning for more than a year, as shown by its inclusion in a budgeted Rp 900 million expenditure from the Badung Regional Budget (APBD) for 2026.
The Head of the Badung Regency Tourism Service, A.A. Putri Mas Agung, is now commenting on the cancellation of the promotional tourism mission to Fujisawa. The Regency Administration reportedly decided to cancel the major sales and promotional mission following a technical and administrative review.
The Regency decided to cancel the mission after determining that several preliminary requirements remained unfulfilled as the proposed mission date approached. “Yah, the mission was canceled because of various impediments,” said Putri Mas on Wednesday, 16 September 2026.
She added that an analysis by the Badung Regency Tourism Authority on 3-5 October 2026 found that it takes at least 30 days to process formal permission (PDLN) for an official overseas mission. The formal process includes leadership budget approval, a recommendation from the Badung Regent and the Governor of Bali, and formal processing through the Ministry of Home Affairs and State Secretariat. “This also includes processing a ‘blue passport’ for civil servants undertaking an overseas assignment,” said Putri Mas.
Head of the Badung Regency Tourism Service, A.A. Putri Mas Agung
Obstacles have also emerged in collaboration with the Japanese. This includes evaluating a draft Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), or an agreement to cooperate, which the Cooperation Bureau of the Badung Regency Secretariat is still discussing.
In addition, the Fujisawa organizer has not yet sent a formal invitation for the festival scheduled for October. This lack of an invitation has limited the Badung Tourism Service’s ability to conduct the proposed mission to Japan.
The Badung Tourism Service is also facing impediments in accumulating tourism industry stakeholders to join the sales mission as sellers. This is especially problematic because the sales mission’s underlying concept is to create a business-to-business (B2B) opportunity that requires active participation from tourism entrepreneurs.
“Because the basic concept of the sales mission is a business-to-business (B2B) promotion involving hoteliers, travel agents, and operators of tourist attractions to facilitate meetings with their counterpart buyers in Japan,” said Putri Mas.
She contends that “forcing” the Japanese sales mission to go ahead despite limited preparations threatens the optimal use of the officially budgeted Rp 900 million. Because of this, the Badung Tourism Service has chosen to consider legal aspects, the preparedness of the cooperative elements, and the effectiveness of a proposed activity before launching the overseas promotional mission.
Continuing, Putri Mas emphasized that international markets remain an important part of plans to increase foreign tourist visitors to Badung Regency. Nonetheless, executing a promotional program still requires thorough administrative and technical preparation.
“Based on these considerations, we concluded that the proposed 2026 Badung Regency Sales Mission to Fujisawa cannot be undertaken as scheduled. We present all this for consideration of the Badung Regent in the preparation of future policies,” she concluded.
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