A Garuda Indonesia flight from Tokyo is scheduled to arrive in Bali in the afternoon, with six foreigners and six Indonesians aboard, said Ida Ayu Indah Yustikarini, an official at the Bali Tourist Agency.

Though the island officially opened to visitors from China, New Zealand, Japan and a few other countries in mid-October, there have been no direct non-cargo flights since then.

China and India are Bali’s second- and third-biggest tourist source countries, respectively, with Australia holding top spot. The two Asian countries contributed 24.9 percent to the province’s total foreign tourist arrivals in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, Statistics Indonesia (BPS) data show.

The six foreign tourists arriving from Tokyo were traveling using business visas since the new rules for tourists were not ready when they applied to come, said Yustikarini.

The government has said restarting international flights is intended to boost Bali's battered tourist sector, which usually accounts for 54 percent of its economy.

Known for its surfing, temples, waterfalls and nightlife, Bali drew 6.2 million foreign visitors in 2019, the year before COVID-19 struck. The entire country recorded just 1.6 million foreign visitors last year, down 61.57 percent from 2020.

However, Indonesia is maintaining much stricter quarantine requirements than Southeast Asian neighbors Thailand, which resumed quarantine-free entry for vaccinated visitors from Tuesday and the Philippines, which will do the same from Feb. 10.

Vaccinated arrivals to Bali must quarantine between five and seven days at hotels or on vessels offshore.

Bali's slow reopening comes as Indonesia has been seeing a steady increase in COVID-19 cases, primarily driven by the Omicron variant. The country on Wednesday reported nearly 18,000 infections, the highest tally since August.

Singapore Airlines said last week it would resume flights to Bali from Singapore starting on Feb. 16.

Garuda also said on Wednesday it had started a cargo flight from Bali to Japan, carrying 17 tons of goods including tuna fish. Most Asian airlines have relied heavily on cargo revenue during the pandemic due to low passenger numbers.

Bali has been receiving foreign visitors in the past few months via the capital Jakarta, but there are no official numbers available.

Last week, officials said that Bali would start welcoming back travelers from all countries from this week, more than three months after announcing it was open to selected nationalities.

The decision comes despite a steady rise in Indonesia's COVID-19 cases in January, having previously brought outbreaks under control in the second half of last year. Health authorities have attributed the increase to Omicron.

Senior minister, Luhut Pandjaitan, said that from Feb. 4 international visitors who were vaccinated against COVID-19 would still be required to do between five and seven days of quarantine.

Last month, the government opened two islands close to Singapore to visitors from the city-state.

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