G

overnor Made Mangku Pastika has pledged to crack down on the slew of unregistered and foreign tour guides who work without the necessary certificates and licenses, saying they gave inaccurate information on Balinese culture.

“We will enforce harsher sanctions against guides who violate the rules,” Pastika said.

Tour guides operating in Bali are required to obtain certificates and licenses from the local tourism authority and to register with tour guide associations.

Pastika said that to provide tourists with reliable and accurate information, the Bali administration would establish information centers at tourist destinations including major Hindu temples across the island.

“I have frequently seen and heard guides giving their guests the wrong information on the religious history of Hindu Balinese society and places of worship,” the governor said during a meeting with Hindu temple guardians at his office Wednesday.

He also criticized the many “unregistered” guides who waited around the Besakih grand temple in Karangasem regency in East Bali.

“They often charge their guests — foreign tourists in particular — very high fees. This certainly ruins the image of Bali and tarnishes the reputation of registered guides,” Pastika added.

The governor also stressed the need to keep the area around major temples clean and beautiful.

“Piles of garbage sit everywhere in many temples, which violates the concept of Tri Hita Karana, a balanced relationship between humans, nature and the Creator. Temples are our places of worship, which must be kept in pristine condition,” he said.

Karangasem Regent I Wayan Geredeg admitted that he had received many complaints from both domestic and foreign visitors about unregistered tour guides, especially at Besakih.

“I offer anyone Rp 500,000 [US$55] each if they report the unregistered tour guides [to authorities] in my regency,” he said.

The Bali administration also hopes that the establishment of information centers would allow visitors to obtain more accurate information as well as maps of the temples.

The government is also planning to train residents to accompany visitors during tours of certain sites.

“We can learn from how officials in China and Japan manage tourism at spiritual sites. The tourism authorities in both those countries professionally manage places of worship as tourist sites and actively involve local residents as informative tour guides,” Pastika said.

Al Purwa, the chairman of the Bali branch of the Association of Travel Agencies (ASITA), said he expected the government to keep its promise to build information centers at tourist sites.

“It would also be useful to establish an official government website that contains complete information on the island’s tourism destinations, including major temples, to enable visitors to know more about any particular site,” he said.

However, he added that the government’s plans usually went nowhere. “[Government officials] must be more serious in rolling out programs and monitoring them.”