BALI – The Pacific paradise reopens to tourism. But for now without international flights. Bali airport has reactivated connections with some countries including China, Japan and France, to allow a resumption of tourism, devastated after more than a year and a half of closure to foreign tourists due to the pandemic. Local authorities, however, have specified that for the moment, however, an international flight has been scheduled.
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“We are ready and waiting for international flights,” said Taufan Yudhistira, spokesman for the Balinese airport, “but so far nothing is planned”. Foreign visitors will need to be fully vaccinated, undergo a five-day quarantine at the hotel, and have adequate visas to travel to Bali. The Indonesian authorities have just announced the resumption of the provision of tourist visas, suspended since the beginning of the pandemic, but the issuance directly at the airport upon arrival has not yet been restored.
Bali Ngurah Rai International Airport is now formally accessible to travelers from 19 countries, including South Korea, China, Japan, France, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Poland, United Arab Emirates, Dubai and New Zealand. However, this reopening does not concern Australia, from which most of Bali’s tourists arrived before the pandemic.
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Luhut Pandjaitan, in charge of restrictive measures to stop the spread of the virus, stressed that the authorities believe that these countries have put the pandemic “under control” according to the parameters established by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Indonesia, the fourth most populous country in the world, has gradually lifted the restrictive measures since last July. In recent weeks, the number of infections has decreased significantly.
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