DENPASAR ~ Tourism industry lobbyists have won short-term relief for hotels and other operators from the sudden 1,000 percent tax increase imposed last year on the use of groundwater with a government announcement that the new tax will be reduced by 50 percent – but only for 2010.

A spokesman for Bali Governor I Made Mangku Pastika said on Wednesday the government remained concerned at the “imbalance” of use of the island’s limited groundwater resources in tourism districts such as Badung, Gianyar and Denpasar that forced poorer Balinese in arid regions to buy expensive water.

The government said it imposed the tax rise to force industry, especially tourism operators, to control their use of groundwater, but many operators said they simply could not pay the new fees.