Bali, the
Indonesian resort island which is a favourite among tourists across the world,
is finally reopening after more than a year. On Thursday, the Indonesian island
officially announced the reopening of its white-sand beaches for people who are
fully-vaccinated against COVID-19, test negative for the virus, hail from
certain countries, quarantine and follow restrictions in public.

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Coming out of an
extended period of restrictions in tourism, Bali hopes that reopening will
enable it to restart its tourism-dependent economy. But international
travellers may be slow to arrive. No international flights are scheduled for
Bali on the first day of its reopening. A tourism official told The Associated
Press that they expect travel to pick up from November.

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For now, Bali has
decided to allow foreigners from 19 countries to visit. The countries have been
selected based on World Health Organization’s criteria such as nations which
have managed to keep their COVID-19 caseload under control, according to Lahut
Binsar Pandjaitan, the Indonesian government minister leading the COVID-19
response in Java and Bali.

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The minister
issued a statement saying all international flight passengers must have evidence
that they have been vaccinated twice, test negative upon arrival in Bali and
undergo a five-day quarantine at designated hotels at their own expense.
Further, tourists will also be required to strictly follow pandemic-related rules
at hotels, restaurants and on beaches.  

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Indonesian
President Joko Widodo said that Bali’s high vaccination rate led to the
decision to reopen the island. COVID-19 cases in India have declined
considerably and Indonesia reported just 1,000 cases a day over the last week
after peaking at around 56,000 cases daily in July.

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Bali, the idyllic “island
of the gods” is home to over four million people. Tourism is the island’s main
source of income. Prior to the pandemic, more than 6 million foreign tourists
would come to Bali every year. The pandemic changed all of that. Foreign
tourist arrivals dropped six-fold, from 6.2 million in 2019 to only 1 million
in 2020. Close to a 100,000 people lost their jobs and occupancy rate at the
island’s hotel industry dropped to below 20%.