Bali reopened to foreign visitors from all nations, a great news for travellers

Direct international flights to Bali have returned for the first time in two years, as Indonesia welcomes people from all over the world to the resort island. Quarantine is still required for all visitors.

Bali officials announced in October that they would allow visitors from 19 nations that met WHO criteria, such as keeping their COVID-19 cases under control. However, until Thursday, when Garuda Indonesia conducted its first flight from Tokyo in two years, there were no direct international flights to Bali.

According to Taufan Yudhistira, the public relations manager at Bali's international airport, Singapore Airlines will begin flying a regular direct route to and from Denpasar in Bali on February 16.

Fully vaccinated travellers must quarantine for five days in a hotel or on a liveaboard boat registered by the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, whereas COVID-19 vaccination recipients must quarantine for seven days.

"Indonesia reported 27,197 new coronavirus infections and 38 deaths on Thursday in the latest 24-hour period. The country has seen more than 4.4 million total cases since the pandemic. The country's latest surge in cases, driven by the highly transmissible omicron variant, has been chiefly concentrated in Jakarta, but in recent days infections have increased significantly, In Java and Bali," said Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Binsar.

Pandjaitan is the Indonesian government minister in charge of the COVID-19 response. "The quarantine for foreign arrivals is intended to prevent the further spread of the virus," said Pandjaitan. In 2019, Bali's airport handled more than 200 international aircraft with at least one million passengers per day before the pandemic. After COVID-19 slammed the world's fourth most populated country in 2020, the island was blocked to international planes.

"Tourism is the primary source of income in Bali, which is home to more than 4 million people who are mainly Hindu in the primarily 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. The reopening of Bali to travellers from all countries will help boost the island's economy, which has been badly affected by the pandemic," Pandjaitan said.

As the government prepares to host G-20 events in Bali later this year, the reopening will also act as a "trial," according to Tourism and Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno. A G-20 summit of finance ministers and central bank governors was intended to take place in Bali in mid-February, but it was moved to Jakarta because to the increase in COVID-19 instances. Some participants will be able to participate in the events virtually.