TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Bali to welcome international tourists in September
Change Size
T
he Bali provincial administration is preparing to welcome foreign visitors in September, following months of international travel restrictions put in place to stem the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
Bali Governor I Wayan Koster has announced a three-step plan to reopen activity in compliance with “new normal” policies. The approach entails reopening the region’s popular tourist destinations to international visitors on Sept. 11.
“To that end, we must surrender ourselves and pray so that we will be graced [with good fortune],” the governor said after participating in a local religious ceremony on Sunday as quoted by tribunnews.com.
Koster said on Thursday that he had closed tourist destinations in Bali until further notice through a regulation.
However, the regulation did not stop several regions in the province from reopening access to popular beaches, including Canggu Beach and Labuan Sait Beach in Badung regency, to foreign surfers.
More than a thousand people attended a prayer at the Besakih Temple in Karangasem regency on Sunday, in which they expressed gratitude for the handling of the pandemic on the island and sought blessings prior to the start of a "new normal".
The country’s popular resort island will gradually reopen this month for domestic tourists while maintaining strict health protocols to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Bali provincial secretary Dewa Made Indra told reporters.
Tourism is Bali's main source of income. Travel restrictions due to the pandemic have battered the local economy. The occupancy rate at Bali's starred hotels plunged to 2.07 percent in May, according to Bali Statistics Agency data, from 62.55 percent in December and from 51.56 percent in May 2019.
"What I hope is the best for Bali and [...] that tourists will return and everybody will be happy and healthy again," Robin Tesselar, a Dutch citizen staying in Bali, told Reuters after attending the Besakih prayer.
Tourism-related businesses are preparing for reopening by implementing improved health protocols, said Bali Villa Association (BVA) secretary-general Yoga Iswara.
The number of foreign tourist arrivals fell to nearly zero in the weeks following the first reported COVID-19 cases in the country.
As of Monday, Bali has confirmed 1,900 COVID-19 cases and 23 deaths linked to the disease.
