Bali now open to tourists from 19 countries
Masrur Jamaluddin, CNN • Published 14th October 2021
FacebookTwitterEmail

Jakarta (CNN) — Indonesia's Bali and Riau Islands are reopening to visitors from 19 countries starting Thursday, according to the country's Minister of Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Panjaitan.
"We have given permission to 19 countries to be able to travel to Bali and the Riau Islands,"

Luhut announced in a meeting in Jakarta on Wednesday.The countries are: China, India, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, New Zealand, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Liechtenstein, Italy, France, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Poland, Hungary, and Norway.
The United States is not yet on the approved list.
Tourist visas must be obtained in advance.
Related contentMalaysia and Singapore ease international travel restrictions in pivot to living with Covid
The countries were chosen based on data showing low positivity rates, Luhut said.
Travelers from the countries can enter Bali and Riau Islands as long as they follow the requirements before and upon arrival, Luhut said.

Eligible travelers must be fully vaccinated with a second vaccine taken at least 14 days prior to traveling to Indonesia, have insurance coverage for Covid-19 treatment worth at least US $100,000 and pay for their own accommodation during a five-day quarantine period.
"One of the reasons for the optimism behind Bali's readiness was due to Covid-19 vaccination having reached 99 percent for the first dose and 90 percent for the second dose," the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry's Crisis Management Special Staff, Henky Hotma P. Manurung, said, according to a report in the state-run news outlet Antara.
Related content.

Luhut added that the reopening will be evaluated periodically and that "this list of 19 countries only applies specifically to direct flights to Bali and the Riau Islands."
He hoped that the implementation will boost Bali's tourism-dependent economy. An estimated 54% of the island's income is earned from the tourism industry.
Bali's Ngurah Rai Airport (DPS) in Denpasar is ready to welcome international arrivals on Thursday, Taufan Yudhistira, Stakeholder Relations Manager at Ngurah Rai's International Airport Authority, told CNN.

However, no international flights are slated to land there yet, Yudhistira said.
Ngurah Rai Airport in Bali, Indonesia photo by AP/Firdia Lisnawati.

Editors Comments:

Ever since the announcement last week that the Bali International Airport would finally open to international tourists I've had several readers and clients ask me whether their country is included?

It was only an hour ago after I woke up, I finally saw the official list from a very reliable source CNN.

The countries are China, India, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, New Zealand, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Liechtenstein, Italy, France, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Poland, Hungary, and Norway.

The United States is not yet on the approved list.

The fact that the United States is not included on the list is not a big problem for Bali tourism because usually they represent no more than 5% to 7% of the tourists to Bali.

The one that hurts the most of course is Australia. But even if Bali did approve Australians they probably wouldn't be able to come anyways due to their own governments severe restrictions.

Regarding my home country of Canada, which is not on the list, I've been following their success on COVID - 19 closely. I'm pretty sure this is just an oversight. Canada only represents a minuscule amount of tourist arrivals to Bali.

Two Worlds Largest Approved :

Note that the two most populous countries in the world China and India are on the list. Surely, if only a fraction of their almost 3 billion combined population headed to Bali it will provide badly needed income for the tourism industry.

Chinese Tourists #1 to Bali in 2022?

Almost 10 years ago I was asked to give a speech on behalf of the Bali government to over 700 Travel Agents in Shanghai, Quanzhou, and Beijing on behalf of the Bali government.

At that same time, I made a very radical prediction that at some point China would be the number one tourist to Bali.

I was chastised by my fellow hotel owners and's scorned by the Bali government who made a comment that “China is only 18^th. at the time how can they be number one in the future”.

I argued they are only 4 1/2 hours from Bali, they love Asian food, they love great prices and once they get passports they will come.

The last several years at one point China was the #1 tourist to Bali for a few months.

“Mark my words right now Chinese will flood in the Bali”.

They're not going to go to places like France and England in the near future because there's be concerned about being stuck there if there are outbreaks and more importantly about going back to their own country.

Yes I can hear the naysayers already saying Chinese don't spend much money. But there's a new breed of Chinese, the middle class, and they will spend money. We've had several of them stay in our Bali Luxury Villas already.

When they go back and tell their friends and relatives in China how beautiful Bali and how close it is without any jet lag because we are almost in the time same time zone and that you can get a five-star hotel for $90 a night or Bali Luxury Villas they will flood into Bali.

As each Chinese newcomers come in and go back and rave about Bali the growth from China will grow exponentially in 2022.

Bollywood to Baliwood:

Also note that India the second largest country in the world is approved. Indians have also developed a very wealthy middle-class the last decade.

I also have experienced India travel desires when I spoke on the behalf of the Indonesian government at one point after the last Bali bombings in Mumbai, India.

Remember Bali is Hindu and most of India is Hindu as well, so they feel right at home here.

While I was in Mumbai many years ago I coined the phrase "Baliwood"

Possible no International Flight Arrivals for Few Weeks

Also, in the news this morning is fact that the Gov. of Bali has announced that he does not expect any actual international arrivals until a few weeks now in November.

I already expected this and was not expecting any overnight miracles because the news has just come out that the airports are open.

Up until last night it was not clear what countries were allowed to come.

Airlines cannot make plans based on that.

Genius Marketing Plan:

I have a marketing suggestion for the airlines of all the approved countries.

If you were the first to fly Bali even if you had a few people on board you will receive an immense amount of free advertising and fanfare.

Even if you had to fly empty with no income free advertising on media such as C.N.N. and B.B.C. would be worth tens or hundreds of times more than the actual profit you would've received.

No Landing Fees:

If you want another reason to come here now understand that the Bali International Airport has we decide to waive all landing fees temporarily.

So why not schedule a flight. You would receive worldwide notoriety.

You could offer free or drastically reduce fares to those that can not afford to return here now that were stuck overseas. Including some Indonesian citizens.

You could also repatriate some people from your own country that can not afford it on your return trip and receive a massive amount of free publicity when you arrive back in your own country on a humanitarian flight.

I doubt that few in the airline business will even hear my suggestion let alone act on it but at least I offered a solution.

After being the owner of a business were now over 50 years I've learned “Every problem in life has a solution. Every solution is time or money or a combination of both.” This is a quotation I came up with a long time ago.

At any rate as I say in this article don't expect a miracle overnight.

Step-by-step slowly and safely.

Normal by Chinese New Year:

I also will give you predictions that by the Chinese New Year in February we will almost be back to normal capacity in Bali.

I don't have time to explain all the reasons why, but I have 23 years of experience in the hospitality industry and a hotel manager in Bali.

Here is another prediction.

Those that grab super bargain price real estate in Bali right now will be thanking me immensely two years now when you see 20 to 50% increases on depressed properties.

How's that for putting my predictions online.

Not Guts no Glory