With chalk-white beaches, azure seas, palm trees around every turn and pleasant temperatures all year round, the island of Bali in Indonesia has long established itself as a holiday paradise for tourists from all over the world.
As recently as 2019, the holiday island was visited by as many as six million tourists. But then came the corona crisis and put an effective stop to tourism, which is Bali’s most important source of income.
Because in Bali, where tourism accounts for half of the economy, most things have been stagnant for months, with hotels, restaurants and beaches closed. As a result, thousands of jobs have disappeared, the news agency writes Reuters.
It is therefore not surprising that large parts of the country’s tourism industry rejoice that Bali on Thursday opens to travelers from several countries, including China, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and the Emirates.
“The reopening of international flights to Bali is expected to gradually heal the economy,” Corona Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan told a news conference on Monday, according to the Indonesian news agency Between.
Visitors must earn at least 600,000
Visitors must be fully vaccinated or take two corona tests, before the flight and after arrival. After that, the quarantine remains for five days.
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– Everyone has been waiting for this. Tourism is the backbone of Bali, says one restaurant owner The Guardian.
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«Quality tourists»
But the pandemic has also sparked a heated debate about the role of tourism in Bali. Some believe the island should become less dependent on tourism and instead develop other areas of its economy.
The most sensational proposal came from the aforementioned Pandjaitan, as in an interview with local newspapers The Bali Sun in September announced a ban on backpacking tourism.
– We will aim for quality tourism in Bali, so we will not let backpackers come in when the reopening is officially in place in the near future, he said according to the newspaper and followed up:
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– We will filter the tourists. We do not want backpackers to come to a Bali that is now clean. We want quality tourists.
Bali and several of the surrounding islands have for decades been considered a mecca for backpacking tourists from all over the world. The Minister of Corona’s statements therefore quickly got off to a good start.
Shortly afterwards, however, a correction came from Pandjaitan’s office, which emphasized that he was referring to tourists who had not complied with infection control rules during the pandemic.
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He is far from the only politician who wants to The tourism sector will focus on attracting “quality tourists”, according to The Guardian.
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The head of Bali’s tourist agency, I Putu Astawa, says the island hopes to attract tourists who want to spend more money, stay longer and have better “attitudes”.
It then refers to tourists who have not followed corona rules, who have worked illegally under tourist visas or broken the law in other ways.
– They are parasites that we must get used to and that we must follow, Astawa says according to the newspaper.
TOURISTS: Tourists on the beach in the Nusa Dua area of Bali. The photo was taken in 2017. Photo: Nyimas Laula / Reuters / NTB
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Biggest mistake
Recently, Bali’s governor, Wayan Koster, said that foreign investors are left with most of the benefits of tourism on the island.
– The biggest mistake in Bali is to lean too much on tourism, he said according to the news website Second.
At the same time, the governor announced that his administration is working on a concept that focuses on making the most of local resources, and thus creating opportunities that do not just depend on tourism.
Indonesia has registered over four million cases of infection and over 140,000 corona-related deaths.
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