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THE BALI Tourism Office admitted that until now it has not received information about the plans of foreign tourists who will come to the Island of the Gods on October 14, 2021, in line with the official opening of international flights.
According to the Head of the Bali Provincial Tourism Office, I Putu Astawa, until today, there has been no information on the arrival of planes from abroad or foreign tourists going to Bali tomorrow, Thursday (10/14),” said Astawa in Denpasar, Bali, Wednesday (10/13).
“There are no international flights or foreign tourists who have confirmed that they will go to Bali on October 14, it could be because the time is too short for the preparation of potential tourists who want to go to Bali,” he said.
He explained, they (foreign tourists) of course need time to take care of visas and flights. Not only for arrivals on October 14, according to the schedule for the arrival of manganegara tourists to Bali until the end of October 2021, there is also no arrival.
“But the Bali Tourism Office remains optimistic that if the open border plan can be properly socialized, it will boost tourist visits to Bali. For Bali’s open borders for foreign tourists, they really need to be extra careful so that there are no new clusters of COVID-19 transmission,” Astawa elaborated.
He explained that related to the length of quarantine at hotels that are temporary accommodations for foreign tourists entering Bali, which was previously set at eight days, it has also been changed to five days. Policies related to preparation for receiving foreign tourists are very dynamic. “For example, about the length of quarantine. Will it change later? We don’t know yet.
“The Bali tourism office noted that before the pandemic, to be precise in 2019, foreign tourist visits to Bali reached 6,275,210 people, then in 2020 it fell to only 1,050,504 people. Furthermore, in January-August 2021, only 43 foreign tourists visited the Island of the Gods,” he noted.
Regarding the provisions that must be carried out by officers in handling foreign tourists who will come to the Island of the Gods, the Provincial Government (Pemprov) of Bali has published a Handbook of Handling International Tourists.
The book regulates Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) starting from tourist arrivals at the airport, arriving at hotels for temporary stays, SOPs at tourist destinations, to SOPs in centralized isolation.
“In Bali, there are 35 hotels that have been prepared as temporary accommodation for new arrivals,” Astawa concluded. [antaranews/photo special]
