NUSA DUA, Nov 14 (AP): Bali wants the world to know it’s back. Dozens of world leaders and other dignitaries are travelling to the Indonesian island for the G-20 summit, drawing a welcome spotlight on the revival of the tropical destination’s vital tourism sector.
Tourism is the main source of income on this idyllic “island of the gods,” which is renowned for its tropical beaches, terraced rice paddies, mystical temples and colourful spiritual offerings.
The pandemic hit Bali harder than most places in Indonesia.
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Before the pandemic, 6.2 million foreigners arrived in Bali each year. Its lively tourism scene — fuelled by hard-partying clubgoers, chilled surfers and spiritual bliss-seekers alike — faded after the first case of Covid-19 was found in Indonesia in March 2020. Restaurants and resorts shut and many workers returned to their villages to try to get by.
Foreign tourist arrivals dropped to only 1 million in 2020, mostly in the first few months of the year, and then to a few dozen in 2021, according to government data. More than 92,000 people employed in tourism lost their jobs and the average occupancy rate of Bali hotels fell below 20%.
The island’s economy contracted 9.3% in 2020 from the year before and shrank further in 2021.
“The coronavirus outbreak has hammered the local economy horribly,” said Dewa Made Indra, regional secretary of Bali province. “Bali is the region with the most severe economic contraction.”
The island is home to more than 4 million people, who are mainly Hindu in the mostly Muslim archipelago nation.
After closing to all visitors early in the pandemic, Bali reopened to Indonesians from other parts of the country in mid-2020. That helped, but then a surge of cases in July 2021 again emptied the island’s normally bustling beaches and streets. Authorities restricted public activities, closed the airport and shuttered all shops, bars, sit-down restaurants, tourist attractions and many other places on the island.
Monkeys deprived of their preferred food source — bananas, peanuts and other goodies given to them by tourists — took to raiding villagers’ homes in their search for something tasty.
The island reopened to domestic travellers a month later, in August, but in all of 2021 only 51 foreign tourists visited.
Things are looking much better now. Shops and restaurants in places like Nusa Dua, a resort area where the G-20 meeting is being held, and in other towns like Sanur and Kuta have reopened, though business is slow and many businesses and hotels are still closed or have scaled back operations.
The reopening of Bali’s airport to international flights and now the thousands coming for the G-20 summit and other related events have raised hopes for a stronger turnaround, Dewa said.
More than 1.5 million foreign tourists and 3.1 million domestic travellers had visited Bali as of October this year.
Embracing a push toward more sustainable models of tourism, Bali has rolled out a digital nomad visa program, called the “second home visa” and due to take effect in December. It’s also among 20 destinations Airbnb recently announced it was partnering with for remote work, also including places in the Caribbean and the Canary Islands.
The recovery will likely take time, even if COVID-19 is kept at bay.
