Indonesia's tourist resort island of Bali has proposed a ban lasting a year or two on the construction of hotels, villas and nightclubs in some areas, as it grapples with the problem of overdevelopment of land, its governor told media.
The plan has been suggested to the central government, which wants to reform tourism on Bali in a bid to boost tourism quality and jobs while preserving the island's Indigenous culture.
The moratorium on the busy areas of Denpasar, Badung, Gianyar, and Tabanan takes aim at overdevelopment for commercial purposes, such as beach clubs, said Sang Made Mahendra Jaya, the island's interim governor.
"We want to reform it," the news website Detik quoted him as saying.
"Hopefully there will be an instruction related to the moratorium on the construction of hotels, villas, discotheques, and beach clubs ... for one to two years."
The governor's office and Indonesia's tourism ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday.
The government would discuss the plan for a two-year moratorium, which could stretch up to 10, senior minister Luhut Pandjaitan has said, however, the Jakarta Post newspaper reported the previous day.
His ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Recently Luhut said about 200,000 foreigners now live in Bali, contributing to problems such as crime, over-development and competition for jobs.
Foreign arrivals in Bali have surged since it reopened for tourism after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Videos of misbehaving tourists often go viral, angering residents and sparking harsh responses from social media users in Indonesia.
Government figures show 2.9 million foreign visitors arrived through Bali airport in the first half of 2024, making up 65 per cent of total foreign arrivals by air.
There were 541 hotels in Bali in 2023, the figures show, up from 507 in 2019.