(14 Oct 2021) The Indonesian resort island of Bali reopened for international travelers to visit its shops and white-sand beaches for the first time in more than a year on Thursday - if they're vaccinated, test negative, hail from certain countries, quarantine and heed restrictions in public.
However, foreign visitors may be slow to arrive.
No international flights to Bali were scheduled on the first day of the reopening and a tourism official forecast travel would pick up in November.
Bali’s airport will welcome new foreign arrivals from 19 countries that meet World Health Organization’s criteria such as having their COVID-19 cases under control, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, the government minister who leads the COVID-19 response in Java and Bali, said in a statement late on Wednesday.
He said all international flight passengers must have proof they’ve been vaccinated two times, test negative for the coronavirus upon arrival in Bali and undergo a 5-day quarantine at designated hotels at their own expense.
They'll also have to follow stringent rules at hotels, in restaurants and on beaches.
Tourism is the main source of income on the idyllic “island of the gods” that is home to more than 4 million people, who are mainly Hindu in the mostly Muslim archipelago nation.
Bali's tourist areas were deserted two decades ago after visitors were scared off by deadly terror attacks that targeted foreigners, but the island has worked to overcome that image.
More than 6 million foreigners arrived in Bali each year prior to the pandemic.
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