Bali reopens to overseas tourists with no country restrictions

The Indonesian Government has reopened Bali to all foreign tourists with direct international flights to the popular tourist destination resuming - for the first time in two years - as of Friday.

Indonesian officials had said in October last year that Bali would welcome foreign arrivals from 19 countries that meet World Health Organization criteria, such as having their COVID-19 cases under control.

However, there were no direct international flights into Bali until the end of last week, when Garuda Indonesia operated its first such flight in two years from the Japanese city of Tokyo.

Beyond the Garuda flight from Japan, which delivered eight Japanese travellers, Singapore Airlines will begin weekly flights from Singapore from 16th February. However, at this time there are no flights scheduled from Australia, which traditionally makes up around a third of Bali’s international tourism market.

Media reports suggest that Jetstar has plans to resume flights to Bali from Sydney and Melbourne as of 1st March, Qantas is scheduled to resume flights in late March while Virgin Australia still has no firm date.

All foreign tourists will need a certificate proving they have had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine at least two weeks before travelling, and a negative PCR test taken within 48 hours of travel.

Fully vaccinated international passengers arriving in Bali will have to spend five days at one of five designated quarantine hotels or on a liveaboard boat certified by the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, while travellers who have received one dose of COVID-19 vaccine must quarantine for seven days.

Bali’s latest reopening coincides with a surge in the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the Coronavirus being experienced across the country.

Before the pandemic, Bali’s airport accommodated more than 200 international flights with at least one million passengers per day in 2019. The island was closed to international flights after COVID-19 hit the world’s fourth most populous country in 2020.

Tourism is the main source of income in Bali and the island’s reopening to tourism will help boost its economy.

The reopening will also serve as a “trial,” said Indonesian Tourism and Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno, as the Government prepares to host G-20 events in Bali later this year.

Image courtesy of Best Western.