An official from Bali immigration yesterday said foreign tourists who have ran out of money or are pretending to be beggars will be reported and sent to their respective embassies, alluding to a rising number of cases involving problematic tourists visiting the island recently.
“We have seen many cases of problematic tourists, lately they are either Australian, British or Russian. We tend to report these cases to the relevant embassies, so they can oversee their citizens who are on holiday here,” Setyo Budiwardoyo, an official from Ngurah Rai’s Immigration Office, told Detik.
Setyo noted that some foreign tourists have engaged in disruptive behavior on several occasions recently, including the case of an Australian man who attacked hotel security earlier this year after being denied stay and a British national who infamously slapped an Indonesian immigration officer last July.
According to Detik’s report, there are foreign tourists who run out of money during their vacation, whom Bali immigration helped in the past by providing accommodation and food.
“If we are to discuss budget matters, I’d rather not give food for people who are pretending. We tend to contact their embassies instead, and ask them to provide their citizens with assistance,” Setyo said.
“Foreign citizens who run out of money or are pretending to be beggars, we will send them to their respective embassies,” he added.
Last October, a globetrotting Bulgarian backpacker who was seen rummaging through rubbish bins around Bali’s Sanur Beach in a video sparked a ton of comments online. He was reportedly trying to save money by eating garbage, and found that Balinese were friendly to his scavenging style.
Other countries, meanwhile, have seen a rising trend of “begpacking,” a term used to describe travelers, generally from western countries, who feel justified in asking locals in developing countries for cash to fund their extended holidays.
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