Indonesia intends to open Bali to international flights as early as next week

[ASEAN NOW Content Team]

 

Indonesia will begin allowing international aircraft to land at Bali's airport next week, as the country considers reopening the country to foreign tourists for the first time in almost 18 months.

International carriers from China, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates may resume flights to Bali as early as October 14, according to Luhut Pandjaitan, a prominent official in President Joko Widodo's cabinet.

 

Passengers who would be qualified under the existing rules include Indonesian nationals and foreigners with a work permit or business visa.
They would be quarantined for eight days at their own expense in a motel.

Bali is Indonesia's most popular tourist destination, and the island's closure to foreign visitors has wreaked havoc on the tourism industry, resulting in the loss of tens of thousands of jobs.
With over 143,000 deaths, Indonesia has been the Southeast Asian country severely afflicted by Covid.
In July, it peaked at roughly 57,000 cases each day, though the number of infections has steadily decreased since then.

 

Since April of last year, foreign visitors have been prohibited from visiting Indonesia, and international planes are only permitted to arrive in Jakarta, the capital, and Manado, on the island of Sulawesi.

Sandiaga Uno, Indonesia's tourism minister, told reporters that restoring Bali's airport to international flights would be a "trial opening of Bali for foreign tourists," though he did not give a timeline for their return.
Tourists from the United States are already permitted to visit.