Tourists think twice about Indonesia after penal code overhaul By Health & Fitness Journal

©Health & Fitness Journal. FILE PHOTO: Passengers arrive at I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport in Badung, Bali, Indonesia on September 2, 2022. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan

KUTA, Indonesia (Health & Fitness Journal) – Indonesia’s decision to ban cohabitation and extramarital sex could hurt Bali’s tourism industry, travelers and businesses have said, just as the island destination bounces back from the COVID pandemic.

In an overhaul of its penal code that critics called a step backwards for the world’s third-largest democracy, Indonesia this week introduced a raft of laws including banning insulting state institutions and propagating views contrary to the country’s secular ideology to moral clauses.

Travelers (NYSE:) and businesses warned that the new laws could discourage foreigners from visiting or investing in Indonesia.

“If I can’t stay in a hotel with my girlfriend, I would think twice,” said Wu Bingnan, a 21-year-old tourist from China who visited Bali.

Changes to the penal code will not come into effect for three years, but Maulana Yusran, deputy head of Indonesia’s Tourism Industry Board, said the new rules are “entirely counterproductive”.

Others sought to allay fears of a crackdown on morality in Indonesia, a nation of 17,000 islands where citizens are mostly moderate Muslims.

“The regulation only makes it clearer than before that only certain people have the right to lodge a complaint. (As a hotel operator) we are not worried and don’t think it will affect our business,” said Arie Ermawati, manager of Oberoi Hotel in Bali.

Currently, Indonesia bans adultery but not premarital sex. The new Criminal Code states that such activities can only be reported by limited parties such as spouses, parents or children.

Foreign arrivals in Bali are expected to reach pre-pandemic levels of 6 million by 2025, the tourism board said earlier.