Bali Says Foreigners Caught "Begpacking" Will Now Be Sent Back To Their Embassies
"Foreign citizens who run out of money or are pretending to be beggars, we will send them to their respective embassies."
By Sadho Ram — 29 Jun 2019, 07:42 PM
For a while now, people, mostly white tourists, who travel to Southeast Asian countries have been begging locals to give them money so they can keep on living the dream. They are called begpackers. They are basically backpackers begging for money.
And Bali has not been immune to such tourists.
In fact, begpacking has become such an issue in Indonesia that now the immigration department in Indonesia's favourite tourist destination has vowed to send all foreigners caught begging to fund their travels to their respective embassies.
File photo of backpackers at I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar, Bali.
Image via The Jakarta PostOn 25 June, an official from Ngurah Rai's Immigration Office, who was speaking to Indonesian site Detik News, said that foreigners who have run out of money or are pretending to be beggars in Bali will be reported and sent back to their respective embassies
"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," the immigration official Setyo Budiwardoyo was quoted saying by Detik News, according to Coconuts Bali.
While the Bali immigration officials have helped foreign tourists who run out of money during their vacation by providing them with accommodation and food in the past, Setyo has now become sceptical that these foreigners are just pretending to be broke
"If we are to discuss budget matters, I'd rather not give food to people who are pretending," Setyo said while speaking to Detik News via Coconuts Bali.
"We tend to contact their embassies instead and ask them to provide their citizens with assistance. Foreign citizens who run out of money or are pretending to be beggars, we will send them to their respective embassies," he added.
