Bali bans foreign travellers for the rest of 2020 amid COVID-19 concerns

The alarming increase in the number of coronavirus cases worldwide have not only made countries tighten lockdown restrictions but also stabbed Bali travel plans. Bali bucket list to remain unfulfilled for travel enthusiasts as the Indonesian island cancels plan to welcome back foreign visitors until the end of 2020.

The plans to visit the tourist hotspot came to a halt after Governor Wayan Koster said in a statement, “The Indonesian government couldn’t reopen its doors to foreign travelers until the end of 2020 as we remain a red zone. The situation is not conducive to allowing foreign tourists to come to Indonesia, including to Bali.”

As of Monday, Indonesia has reported the highest number of fatalities in Southeast Asia with more than 155,000 coronavirus infections and 6,759 deaths. On the same day, Bali has reported 4,576 coronavirus infections and 52 deaths.

“Bali cannot fail because it could adversely impact the image of Indonesia including Bali in the eyes of the world, which could prove counter-productive to the recovery of travel,” Koster said. Indonesia’s biggest tourism hub was earlier planning to reopen to international tourists on Sept. 11

While the authorities had halted international tourism as the outbreak picked up pace in early April, locally it had opened up travel on July 31. From then until August 14, approximately 2,300-2,500 local tourists came onto the island each day as per Koster’s estimation.

Amid the peak of coronavirus, a forecast was made by the government that more than $10 billion of Indonesia’s tourism revenue this year could be wiped out as travel restrictions due to the pandemic have hammered the local economy of Bali. Since the island’s main source of income is tourism, the revenue is likely to worsen in the second half given the postponed plans to welcome back foreign travellers.

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