In early October, Indonesian officials announced that Bali would soon reopen to international travelers, and this week the island began hosting tourists again – but only from a few countries.
“We have given permission to 19 countries to travel to Bali and the Riau Islands,” Maritime and Investment Minister Luhut Binsar Panjayitan said Wednesday, CNN reported. The countries selected for their low COVID-19 positive response are Bahrain, China, France, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and the United Arab Emirates. All foreign travelers must be fully vaccinated, have insurance covering coronavirus treatment, be tested negative and quarantined at their own expense within five days of arrival.
Although the international airport technically opened on October 14, there were no international flights scheduled at the time, AP reported.
“All of this takes time. These countries and visitors need time,” Bali Governor Y Wayan Koster said, according to Reuters. “We hope to see arriving flights, whether charter or commercial, by the end of October, as signs of a recovery in tourism in Bali.”
Before the pandemic, Bali was visited by about 6 million people annually; that number dropped to 1 million last year, according to AP. Coronavirus cases have skyrocketed in Indonesia this summer, peaking in July, but have been steadily declining since early September. As of October 13, 22 percent of the country’s population was fully vaccinated.