The Bali government has found a new way to drum up local support this time by formally announcing that it plans to ban Airbnb-style rentals across the entire island.
The governor argues that these unlicensed rentals, expected to be around 2,000, don’t contribute to tax revenue and lower demand for hotels, whose post-pandemic occupancy rates haven’t rebounded beyond 60%.
Here’s an excerpt from the Jakarta Globe:
According to Koster, more than 2,000 hotels and villas are operating without permits. “Airbnb does not fully support Bali’s local economy. Many are illegal and problematic, we will enforce the rules without exception. This is not only the government’s responsibility but a shared one,” he said.
According to PHRI, many illegal rentals in Indonesia are managed by foreign nationals who lease local homes and re-market them as daily accommodations through platforms based abroad.
“They are not operating under proper accommodation standards. The profit-sharing model used by these platforms has become a problem in many countries,” Hariyadi said.
PHRI Bali Chairman Tjok Oka Arta Ardana Sukawati added that the Airbnb model on the island often involves foreign nationals contracting local properties and then subletting them to tourists online. Bali’s current hotel occupancy rate is estimated at around 60 percent, far below expectations amid rising foreign arrivals, which reached 6.3 million in 2024, surpassing pre-pandemic levels.
Conclusion
Who can own a villa and when it can be rented on an Airbnb-style platform is really complicated in Indonesia and Bali, and there are surely many who do this even when it is not legal (and many have looked the other way, at least until now).
I have often felt that Bali’s governor believes that the island is a more desirable place to visit than it truly is.
They should have a better planning process in place to ensure that too many hotels aren’t built when they don’t have the basic infrastructure to support them all.
I haven’t been back to Bali this year, although I was in Jakarta back in March, and I need to make it there at some point in 2026.
