Bali’s tourist industry is urging the provincial administration to implement stricter regulations for tourist visits to temples instead of banning tourists altogether.
Their concern, carried in the Jakarta Post, responds to a move by Bali governor Made Mangku Pastika to keep temples free of tourists.
Stakeholders, including the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association, the Association of Indonesian Tour and Travel Agencies and the Indonesian Tour Guide Association, agreed that Bali’s tourist sites "need better management and a set of strict regulations".
A group spokesman said that restricting temples from public visits "would be counterproductive to all parties".
"Local tour guides, souvenir sellers and kiosk owners get a living from tourists," the spokesman added.
Three of Bali’s temples, Tanah Lot, Taman Ayun and Uluwatu, are top drawcards for tourists in Bali.
In March this year, an Estonian couple was caught having sex in a temple. Police freed them but villagers demanded the couple pay 20 million rupiah ($2,000) to fund a cleansing ritual.
The couple admitted they had also used the temple’s sacred water fountain before having sex.
The chairman of the Bali chapter of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association said the incident highlighted the need for a campaign educating tourists on the proper conduct when inside temple compounds.
