The Bali Tourist Levy

IDR 150,000 once per trip — pay on the official Love Bali site, dodge the copycats, keep your QR voucher.

Since February 2024, Bali has charged every foreign visitor a tourist levy — officially the Pungutan Wisatawan Asing, better known by its "Love Bali" branding. As of mid-2026 it is IDR 150,000 (about USD 9) per person, and everyone pays, including children and infants — there is no age exemption. Headlines about a higher fee or a Bhutan-style daily tax have circulated since 2025, but nothing has been enacted: any site quoting more than IDR 150,000 is describing a proposal or, more likely, a scam.

That scam warning is the single most important thing to know. The only official website is lovebali.baliprov.go.id — check that the domain ends in .go.id — plus the official Love Bali app on the App Store and Google Play. Copycat .com and .org sites buy sponsored ads on Google and Instagram so they appear above the real site, charge IDR 300,000 or more, and harvest card details. Type the URL yourself and never click a sponsored ad for "Bali tourist tax". The official site takes Visa, Mastercard, Amex, JCB, bank transfer, virtual account, UnionPay and QRIS, and has a group page (lovebali.baliprov.go.id/levy-group) so one person can pay for a whole family. If it throws an Error 403, disable your VPN or ad-blocker rather than retreating to a third-party site.

Pay online before you fly — it takes minutes, and 96 percent of 2025's payments were made pre-arrival. If you land unpaid, you can pay at the BRI Bank counter in the Ngurah Rai international arrival hall, at the domestic terminal or Benoa harbour counters, or — since August 2025 — at your hotel or travel agent: a 2025 regulation made them official collection points (they keep a 3% commission), so a hotel asking to collect the levy is legitimate, not a hustle.

After paying you get a voucher with a QR code by email (the site can resend or verify it if it goes missing). Save it offline — a screenshot or wallet pass — because mobile signal is patchy exactly where it gets checked. Spot checks have been routine since March 2025: officers scan vouchers at Tanah Lot, Uluwatu, Besakih, Tegallalang and other major attractions, and some sites now verify at the ticket desk itself. There are no fines and no airport departure checks; if you're caught unpaid you'll simply be asked to pay the IDR 150,000 on the spot by card or QRIS — but the same 2025 rules allow attractions to refuse entry to non-payers, so it's cheaper in time to just pay upfront.

The levy is paid once per stay in Indonesia, whether you arrive by air or sea, directly from abroad or via Jakarta. Side trips to Nusa Penida, Lombok or Java and back do not trigger a second payment — but if you leave Indonesia (a Singapore hop, say) you pay again on re-entry. Exemptions cover diplomatic and official visa holders, transport crew, KITAS/KITAP residence-permit holders, and family-unification, student and golden visa holders; some categories must apply for the free exemption via the Love Bali site before arrival, others just show their permit to officers.

The money funds protection of Balinese culture, environmental conservation and better tourism services, with part flowing to traditional (adat) villages; the province published its first official spending breakdown in late 2025. Note what the levy does NOT cover: the visa on arrival (IDR 500,000), Kintamani's IDR 50,000 entry fee, Nusa Penida's island entry fee, and the Nusa Penida marine-park fee (IDR 100,000 per day for swimming, snorkelling or diving) are all separate charges.

Bottom line: pay IDR 150,000 per person at lovebali.baliprov.go.id before you fly, keep the QR voucher saved offline, and treat anything charging more — or any non-.go.id payment site — as a red flag.

Sources

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