Tourist Visits to Bali Reach Highest Record During a Pandemic

Expert Staff for Crisis Management at the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy (Kemenparekraf) Henky Manurung sees the tourism sector has started to stretch ahead of Christmas 2021 and the new year 2022 (Nataru), including in Bali. Even during a working visit by Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno to Bali last weekend, in a day there were 14,000 people who came to Bali by air. This is the highest record during the Covid-19 pandemic.

"There was a new record that was set, 14,000 passenger flight visits to Bali on that day. This was the highest during the pandemic," said Henky Manurung in the online dialogue "Optimism for the Awakening of Indonesian Tourism 2022" online, Wednesday (12/22/2021). 

Based on observations in the field, Henky said that all health protocols in Bali in general have been going well. It is hoped that this compliance can continue, including the discipline of using the Peduli Protect application.

"From direct monitoring, we have seen that at several points, the Peduli Protect application is still not being adhered to, and we immediately rebuke the restaurant management and others," said Henky.

In the midst of the spread of the omicron variant and the limited entry of foreign tourists to Indonesia, Hengky hopes a lot for domestic tourists as the backbone of the recovery of the tourism sector in 2022.

"We are optimistic about the strategy from the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy and the entire provincial government to make domestic tourists the backbone of the future. We believe that these domestic tourists are responsible tourists, where we make sure the health protocols run, carry out antigen tests and road PCR, and that's for sure 3M (wearing masks, washing hands, keeping a distance," said Henky.

On a separate occasion, Secretary-General of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) Maulana Yusran also said that the 10-day quarantine policy for foreign travelers helped encourage the recovery of the tourism sector, including hotels. However, this recovery is not due to the large number of people staying at hotels to carry out quarantine, but because people now prefer to travel in Indonesia instead of abroad.

"We do not deny that the increase in hotel occupancy has also contributed to the increase in the quarantine period to 10 days. Many people who originally intended to travel abroad, finally canceled their plans and chose to travel within the country because they did not want to be quarantined for 10 days later, " said Maulana Yusran.

Source: BeritaSatu.com

https://www.beritasatu.com/economy/870441/kunjungan-wisatawan-ke-bali-reach-rekor-tertinggi-during-pandemic