RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesBali is cracking down on foreigners who are flouting local rules and customs. Jaromir/Getty Images
In July, a popular running club became a flash point in a debate over how foreigners in Bali conduct themselves.
The episode comes as Bali cracks down on foreigners accused of breaking rules and disrupting life on the island.
Despite the tougher approach, there are few signs that Bali is losing its appeal to digital nomads.
Every morning, running clubs weave through the streets of Canggu, the busy beach town on the southwest coast of Bali.
They regularly pass along the Canggu Shortcut, a narrow road near Juryco Nugraha's tattoo studio, where he also lives upstairs. Nugraha, who goes by the name Kane, had grown used to them. "You can hear their steps and people talking," he said.
But every now and then, a larger, louder group would come through around 5:30 a.m., singing and cheering as it passed his studio, he said.
One of Canggu's many run clubs was Entourage Bali, whose events were hard to miss. Videos circulating online show one of their "Silent Disco" runs, with runners covering almost the entire width of the street, wearing glowing headphones and a DJ leading the group from a truck.
In July, Entourage became the focus of a much bigger debate after social media posts said it had discriminated against local applicants.
The episode reverberated through digital nomad circles and sparked widespread backlash online. A Reddit thread about it drew more than 500 comments. Bali senator Ni Luh Djelantik reposted a video of one of Entourage's runs and called on authorities to investigate.
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A post shared by Ni Luh Putu Ary Pertami Djelantik (@niluhdjelantik)
On July 24, immigration authorities said they'd barred two Dutch nationals linked to the club, both of whom had left the country on July 23, from re-entering Indonesia. Indonesian authorities did not publicly identify the two individuals, except by their initials. Officials said they suspected the event violated immigration rules and ordered a further investigation into the organizers, per state news agency Antara .
Bali has been through different waves of tourism — it has drawn everything from the pseudo-spiritual "Eat Pray Love" crowd and yoga trainees to raucous spring-break partiers.
Since the pandemic, Bali has also cemented its reputation as one of the world's premier digital nomad destinations , as the rise of remote work has given more people the freedom to work from anywhere.
Bali became a major destination for digital nomads after the pandemic, as remote work became more widespread. Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images
As tourist numbers on the island have swelled, the Entourage case has become the latest flash point in a growing debate over how foreigners should live, work, and conduct business in Bali.
Authorities are tightening the rules
Bali is home to around 4.5 million people. It welcomed nearly 7 million international visitors in 2025 .
Run clubs , which have surged in popularity worldwide as a way to exercise and socialize, are part of the latest iteration of Bali's foreign social scene, alongside padel clubs, coworking spaces, and wellness communities.
For some locals, the growing presence of foreigners has created a complicated dynamic.
Friska Wirya, a Jakarta native who grew up in the US and Australia, moved to Bali in 2024. She said she has seen some foreigners behave in ways that clash with local customs, for example, entering shops shirtless or in bikinis, which is considered disrespectful in a culture that values modesty.
"It's a bit of a love-hate relationship because at the end of the day, it is a tourist island. Huge economic driver, not just for Bali, but for Indonesia itself," Wirya said.
Still, she said, many long-term foreign residents who build a life on the island "love and appreciate the Balinese people" and the local culture.
The Entourage case comes after years of friction over foreign visitors' behavior in Bali. Arterra/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
The Entourage case follows years of high-profile incidents involving foreigners accused of violating local laws and disrespecting customs on the holiday island.
In 2023, a German tourist was arrested after interrupting a temple performance and stripping naked. In March, a Swiss tourist was arrested over a social media post insulting Nyepi, Bali's annual Hindu Day of Silence. In April, an Italian man was deported after a video of him physically confronting a traffic police officer went viral.
Such incidents have become emblematic of a broader tension between Bali's booming international appeal and local expectations that visitors respect the island's laws and traditions.
"We are Indonesian, and when we go abroad, we follow the rules," Bali senator Djelantik told Business Insider. "When you come to our country, we expect you to do the same. That's it."
Between January and June this year, Bali immigration authorities deported 342 foreign nationals . For comparison, Bali deported 378 foreign nationals in the first nine months of 2024 and 335 throughout 2023.
The growing pains of Bali's foreign boom
As in many tourist destinations, the tensions have deeper roots.
In tourism-heavy parts of Bali, rapid development has driven up land values, changed neighborhoods, and increased the number of foreign-owned businesses, Tangguh Okta Wibowo, a lecturer at Universitas Multimedia Nusantara in Jakarta, told Business Insider. Wibowo has researched digital nomad communities in Bali.
Economic disparities are also part of the tension. "A lot of digital nomads have their income from global labor markets while living in Bali , so they have a purchasing power that is quite different from local wage levels," Wibowo said.
The mean monthly wage for employees in Bali was about 4.06 million rupiah, or $230, as of February, the latest government data shows.
Bali's foreign boom has also highlighted the economi...
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