Foreign tourists question `duties' imposed on souvenirs

Trisha Sertori ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Denpasar   |  Mon, 10/26/2009 1:43 PM  |  Bali

Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport staff officers have irritated tourists this week by slapping tax duties on souvenirs bought on the holiday island.

In an email currently doing the rounds, an Australian woman shared two cases when baggage checkers demanded customs excises on goods bought in Bali.

"Yesterday my friends visiting from Singapore were really hassled in the Denpasar airport.

"The baggage checkers kept telling them and me that we had to pay tax and customs on all items we had purchased in Bali," wrote the Australian woman, who has requested anonymity.

"I knew better, and had my receipts, pointing out that tax had already been paid. The poor guy behind me handed over a hundred dollars and suddenly no more tax was needed."

She said this was the second serious harassment she was aware of.

Another friend who also faced attempted extortion at the Ngurah Rai Airport is an Australian journalist, wrote the woman.

"Don't people come here to shop? If there are additional fees at the airport it will affect the mom and pop businesses," she wrote.

Ngurah Rai Airport staffers have a long and ugly history of attempting to extort illegal fees in the name of taxes or fines from visitors.

In 2007 an Australian woman, Dorothy Longhurst, arrived in Bali from Australia to recuperate after battling cancer.

Her passport was two weeks short of the required six months until expiry.

According to reports of the time, an airport official demanded US$4,000 to allow the woman to holiday in Bali.

She and her husband refused and were put on the next plane back to Australia.

The then former vice president, Jusuf Kalla reportedly ordered the Justice and Human Rights Ministry to sack the official in question.

At the time Bali Tourism Board chairman Cokorda Oka Artha Ardhana Sukawati agreed that the board often received complaints of attempted extortion at the airport.

Comments (2)  |   Post comment
A  |   A  |   A  |   Mail to a friend  |  Printer Friendly Version |  Digg it!  |  Add to Del.icio.us!  |  Add to Reddit!  |  Stumble it!   |  Share on facebook  

Tony Smith (not verified), Canberra — Wed, 11/04/2009 - 10:49am

A "practice" at Denpasar airport has arisen known as the VIP visa on arrival where regular incoming tourists are enabled to avoid long waits in immigration processing lines of up to 2 hours. They can thereby exit the airport in a fraction of this time. The problem is that the fee for this service is often negotiable with intermediaries, which provokes doubt in minds as to whether it is really an official payment. For the sake of fairness and equity to all, this practice should be banned except in cases of genuine visiting officials or VIPs and all should pay the standard visa fees which apply. It would be a much more efficient use of human resources to post the VIP immigration staff to the normal immigration lines to alleviate bottlenecks. After all, it is the tourists which provide exchange and help the Indonesian economy.

A.K (not verified), Los Angeles, CA — Tue, 10/27/2009 - 2:57am

This type of news is a slap in the face for those in the ministry who anticipate 7 million visitors under the proposed slogan by the Culture and Tourism for the continuation "Visit Indonesia Year 2009 and 2010"...And yet more harassment are popping up at the airport for those tourists who actually helped the economy in Bali. It is just mind boggling. I understand that tourists traveling abroad with less than 6 months or a year on their passports(depending on the regulation of the country of destination)will get into trouble at their destination unless the airline employees at the point of origin catch the discrepancy beforehand. Therefore it falls on the travelers to be more vigilant with their passports and regulation of their destination to avoid unfavorable situation.

What's On

more
more