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Recovery? What recovery? Ask Bali tourism firms
Business owners from Bali share their views on the state of the industry and whether there has been any trickle-down effects from the Group of 20 events throughout the year.
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Street mart: A customer walks into a corner shop in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Nov. 12. (JP/Mark Lempp)
When Indonesia took over the mantle of the Group of 20 presidency from Italy in late 2021, hopes were high that the top-level diplomatic event would not only impact the global agenda but also benefit the local economy.
Countless events held in Indonesia throughout this year in the spheres of business, politics, culture and more promised to be a boon for big conference organizers and street side vendors alike and particularly for hotels, restaurants and other businesses in Bali, which hosted the G20 Summit last week.
However, tourist industry players on the island queried by The Jakarta Post say the much-touted recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic remains elusive.
“For now, there’s no recovery. Back then, we had a huge number of Chinese tourists,” said Yoha, who runs a convenience store in the Nusa Dua area, where the G20 Summit was held.
In 2019, Yoha explained, Chinese tourists would arrive in multiple buses to stay at nearby hotels, requiring the shop to operate on a 24-hour basis to meet the high demand.
Three years later, the G20 events had failed to draw many foreigners to the shop, even though it was located near the summit venue, she said, so the shop had yet to return to a round-the-clock service.
She noted that domestic tourists had flocked to the area in around 20 buses recently but said their spending was not comparable to that of the Chinese, who would buy coffee and imported noodles in bulk.
