Editor's Comments:
But that's only because people there just don't care about Covid- 19.
Last night we decided to go down to the Beach Walk mall, the largest mall in Bali.
It happens to be located in Kuta where the person below said was dead. Not a true statement.
As we drove down the bypass to Kuta there was major traffic jams as many people were trying to enter the Galleria shopping centre.
Frankly it was the worse traffic I've seen during New Year's Day in that area in 23 years I have lived here.
When you look at the license plates you soon discover why. There has been some surprising amount of domestic tourists drive their cars, which are usually big ones, over from the other Islands of Java etc.
They are cruising around Bali with the same tactics that they use big cities which are sometimes obnoxious.
As I entered the main road to come down to the beach in Kuta I made a comment to my wife "it is almost back to' Pre - Covid traffic here".
It took us almost 20 minutes just to go a couple of kilometres.
When we entered the Beachwalk parking complex we found it almost full like Pre-Covid.
After we entered the mall again it appeared almost to be back to pre-Covid occupancy in the mall. That was because probably 60 to 70% of the people there were domestic tourists from other islands.
We were then requested once again even before entering the theatre to produce our proof of vaccination once again.
After the movie ended we decided not to eat in the mall because there was way too many people. After avoiding Covid for two years we certainly didn't want to get it now.
Then it took us almost 1/2 hour to get out of the parking lot and another half hour to get out of Kuta due to a heavy rain.
So as the article mentions below it is almost back to normal in that area but only in that area.
Just north of there and most the rest of Bali is pleasantly vacant of most tourists except for the of course at the major attractions such as the parks etc.
The bottom line is this Covid has not gone away.
In fact in most countries in the world it's reaching new all-time highs as far as cases with the new Omicron variant.
All those people running around without masks on the West Coast areas in my opinion are complete idiots and have no consideration for others.
During the last two years I've had a friend die from Covid here in Bali and many of my staff and clients have come down with it. It was not pleasant.
Just take a look at what's happening in Singapore and Hong Kong today and you're seeing news such as one person in a restaurant infecting many others.
So I plead for those of you that live here in Bali. When the domestic tourists leave at the end of the holidays don't let your guard down.
Remember it took us 2 to 3 Months in Bali before we even got our first Covid case after most of the world was infected.
I do believe that this Omicron virus may only last a short time.
So let's just be careful the next few months.
Please for the sake of you your families the and the Indonesians that you interact with.
This too shall pass and hopefully we will get over it in the first quarter of this year and get back to normal.
Patience is a virtue and it is time to be virtuous not careless.
What pandemic? In Bali, the clubs and beaches are packed as tourists flock to the island for their holidays again, despite Omicron
Despite official numbers suggesting only 45 foreigners have visited Bali this year, the island is busier than ever thanks to a large number of domestic tourists.
If it weren’t for the masks, there would be no visible signs of the pandemic – ‘It’s like everyone has just stopped worrying about Covid-19,’ says one expat
Dave Smith
Updated: 1:15pm, 1 Jan, 2022
Domestic tourists at Bali’s international airport. They have flocked to the island in December, and the island is busier than at any time during the pandemic. Photo: Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
On October 14, Bali’s international airport opened after an 18-month hiatus, ostensibly paving the way for millions of international tourists to return to the island.
But Indonesia’s official border policies – and the movement of tourists to and from Bali – have rarely been in sync during the pandemic.
Between January and August, 1.06 million foreigners arrived in the country through other Indonesian islands, according to Statistics Indonesia.
Scores then caught domestic flights to Bali, dwarfing official numbers that suggest only 45 foreigners have visited the island this year.
In July, for example, the Balinese government acknowledged there were 110,000 foreigners on the island. Anecdotal evidence in the form of packed beach clubs, nightclubs and restaurants in the tourist hubs of Uluwatu, Seminyak and Canggu suggests the number kept on rising between September, when Bali’s second partial lockdown was lifted, and late November, when the government introduced strict new quarantine measures to try to stymie the import of the Omicron variant.
Domestic tourists at I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport in Kuta, Bali, Indonesia on December 22, 2021. Photo: Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Originally only three days, quarantine was raised to five days, then seven, and now stands at 10 days; moreover, it cannot be undertaken in Bali.
The changes have forced international airlines to cancel all scheduled flights to Bali.
However, the impact has not been felt on the ground because of the large number of Indonesian tourists holidaying in Bali. By mid-December, 13,000 were arriving daily.
If it weren’t for the masks – properly worn by about half of the people half the time – there would be no visible sign of the pandemic.
Martin Sebela at his wedding in Bali in 2016. Photo: courtesy of Martin Sebela
“In Canggu, where we are staying, it is not so different to the last time we were here, in 2019, because there is still a big expat community,” says Martin Sebela, from the Czech Republic, who arrived in Bali on November 2 – his fourth trip to the island.
The first was in 2016, when he married his wife, Petra. “But the Kuta area, which we visited for nostalgia because it’s where we spent our first night in Bali five years ago, is like a ghost town.
“In Sidemen, a beautiful village in east Bali, you can stay in a luxury villa for very little money because it’s so quiet. Our taxi driver there told us he has had to refinance the loan for his taxi twice.”
The Canggu “short cut” is busy again. Photo: Ian Neubauer
The Sebelas, travelling with their infant son, won’t be returning to the Czech Republic any time soon. “We were thinking about moving here for a few years and Covid-19 sped up our decision.”
The family entered Indonesia on business visas, which allow foreigners to seek out business opportunities and investments in the country, are valid for 60 days and can be extended almost indefinitely. They flew to Bali via Vienna, Qatar and Jakarta, where they quarantined in a luxury hotel before transiting to Bali.
“We were lucky, as we arrived in the two-week week window before Omicron, where there were only three days of quarantine,” Sebela says. “Apart from the fact that the hotel was a little expensive, we enjoyed our time together as a family and the food was excellent. We actually stayed a day longer at the hotel to use the big swimming pool.”
Gavin Wilson is an Irish expat based in Bali. Photo: courtesy of Gavin Wilson
Gavin Wilson, an Irish expat based in Bali, had a very different quarantine experience after returning to Indonesia in December from a business trip to Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates.
“When I landed in Jakarta, a person in full protective gear took my PCR test and the person who processed my documents was behind a plastic screen. But, from that point on, it was a bit of a joke because I had to wait in an arrival hall with about 200 passengers,” he says.
“Everyone was mingling with the locals working in canteens, cleaners and agents working for quarantine hotels. Everyone was wearing masks but I cannot say they wore them properly 100 per cent of the time.
Tourists on Jimbaran Beach in Bali in July 2020. Photo: Barcroft Media via Getty Images
“When I got my PCR test result, an agent from my hotel took me out to the car park and told me to wait in a queue for a taxi with dozens of other people. Then I got in a taxi for a 45-minute ride to Jakarta. He and the driver both wore masks but there was no plastic barrier in the car,” Wilson says.
“The check-in for the hotel for quarantine was in the basement, which offered other guests protection, but then a porter insisted on taking me up to my room in the lift even though I could have got there by myself.
“A few hours later, a woman knocked on my door and insisted on coming into my room to fix my television even though I told her I had no plans to watch television. And it wasn’t even broken, just switched off. All she did was turn it and leave it on the hotel channel, where you can buy in-room movies.”
Wilson spent seven days in, and the equivalent of US $1,000 on, a hotel room, until he passed a final PCR test and caught a flight to Bali.
“What really surprised me after being away for only a month is how much busier things were in Bali,” he says. “The traffic from the airport to my villa in Seminyak was intense. Another thing that’s changed is that everyone is a lot more relaxed in terms of health restrictions and enforcement.
“Before, there was no way you could get into a supermarket without a mask, having your temperature checked and hands sprayed with sanitiser at the front door. Now they just wave you through. It’s like everyone has just stopped worrying about Covid-19.”
Kadek Wismayana is the corporate manager at Mama San.
Balinese are now far more concerned with putting food on the table, says Kadek Wismayana, corporate manager at Mama San, a Seminyak restaurant.
The latest unemployment figure for the island, released by Statistics Indonesia in August, was 5.37 per cent. But with seven out of 10 jobs in Indonesia existing in the informal economy – from parking attendants to women selling satay sticks on the side of the road – the real unemployment and underemployment rates are significantly higher.
“It’s not that people in Bali don’t care. It’s just that we’ve been waiting for tourism to come back for so long and we’re tired of it and they want to know why, if tourists don’t have to quarantine in Phuket [Thailand], the government here doesn’t do the same thing,” says Kadek.
Mama San restaurant in Seminyak, Bali.
The good news, he says, is that Mama San is busy again. “Since the start of December, we have been getting lots of business from Indonesians from Jakarta and other parts of the country.
We also have some foreigners – loyal expat customers who’ve been coming here for years and who have continued to support us during the pandemic. But until quarantine is removed, no more foreigners are coming to Bali.”
That opinion is corroborated by a survey by the International Air Transport Association that found 84 per cent of respondents have no interest in holidaying at destinations that require quarantine.
Still, there are exceptions, such as Samuel White and his fiancée, who had planned to come from San Diego, in the United States, to Bali this month for a four-week honeymoon. Now the first 10 days will be spent in quarantine, but instead of being stuck in a hotel room in Jakarta, they will pass the time at a beachfront resort in Manado, on the island of Sulawesi, the other authorised entry point for international flights to Indonesia.
It’s not clear why Manado’s Sam Ratulangi airport, usually Indonesia’s 18th busiest, was chosen instead of others for this purpose.
Samuel White plans to visit Bali this month for his honeymoon. Photo: courtesy of Samuel White
“It’s been pretty hectic trying to understand all the rules and I think the government of Indonesia is being extremely harsh with quarantine because people in Bali need tourism dollars and nobody wants to do 10 days quarantine in a hotel in Jakarta,” says White, who is another who will be arriving on a business visa. “But I recently learned we can quarantine in Manado and at least sit on the porch of a villa and look at the ocean instead.”
Quarantine complete, the couple will then travel to Bali for the rest of their honeymoon and to look at investment villas.
“Neither of us has ever been to Bali before and we are not sure about living there, but if we like it, we’ll spend several months there every year going back and forth to the States,” he says. “We’ve been floating the idea around for years, so we’re really excited to finally go there. And I think it will be a unique experience to see Bali empty.”
When informed Bali is not empty, White replies: “Well, that’s a surprise to me.”
As it is, no doubt, to others.
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