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Australians still unable to visit Bali after drop in cases
Canberra remains unkeen on Australians traveling to Indonesia, particularly to the popular holiday destination of Bali, despite the significant drop in new daily COVID-19 cases over the past weeks.
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A foreigner shows his vaccination card after receiving the second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in Sanur, Denpasar, Bali on June 22, 2021. (Antara/Nyoman Hendra Wibowo)
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anberra remains unkeen on Australians traveling to Indonesia, particularly to the popular holiday destination of Bali Island, despite the significant drop in new daily COVID-19 cases over the past few weeks and the recent loosening of activity restrictions.
Australian Trade, Tourism and Investment Minister Daniel Thomas Tehan told reporters on Wednesday that the country wanted to get the majority of its citizens inoculated first. The minister made the same point when asked about plans for a travel bubble between the two countries.
According to the Our World in Data website, only 42 percent of Australians have been fully vaccinated as of Tuesday, just over half the Australian government’s target.
“What I said to Minister Lutfi was that we will stay very closely in touch as we develop and implement our plan. Obviously, we have to hit that 80 percent national vaccination rate. States and territories [in Australia] also have to hit that 80 percent national vaccination rate,” Tehan said at a press conference held at the Indonesian Trade Ministry.
Read also: Everybody misses Bali
Tourism businesses in Indonesia are desperately waiting to welcome Australians and other foreigners again. Australia ranked first among the countries of origin of foreign tourists visiting Bali in 2019, when 1.23 million Australians visited the island, ahead of the 1.19 million Chinese, according to Statistics Indonesia (BPS).
BPS data further show that Australia accounted for the fourth-largest number of foreign visitors to Indonesia overall in 2019, after Malaysia, China and Singapore. The 1.38 million Australians made up almost 9 percent of total visits.
