ER
THE DENPASAR City Government, Bali, predicts that tourist visits to Bali, especially for vacations in Denpasar, will increase as Christmas and New Year’s Eve 2022 approaches.
“The surge is not only happening to domestic tourists, but also foreign tourists,” said Deputy Mayor of Denpasar, I Kadek Agus Arya Wibawa in Denpasar, Thursday (10/28).
He stated this when he was met on the sidelines of the operational technical guidance of the Denpasar City local feeder Seaport in 2021 in Serangan Village, Denpasar, Bali.
“We had discussions with stakeholders and it is predicted that there will be a surge in tourist visits ahead of Christmas and New Year because there is already an open border for foreign tourists,” said Arya Wibawa.
He added that the current leading tourist destination is Nusa Penida, as well as tourist access to Gili Lombok, Mandalika. When it’s finished, the home base is in Bali and one of them is in Denpasar. The Denpasar’s city government also prepared the ferry ports in the Denpasar area to the maximum, namely the Sanur Port, Serangan Port and Mertasari Port.
“We are also holding an operational technical guidance event for local feeder seaports, so we can improve to anticipate the surge in tourists when using sea transportation access,” he remarked.
He explained that tourist destinations in Denpasar, including the Port of Sanur to Port of Mertasari, had been installed with Care Protect and through this technical guidance to deepen the socialization of the implementation of health protocols to tourists in Denpasar.
Meanwhile, Nyoman Dina, one of the residents in charge of managing ships that dock or cross at Serangan Port, said that since early October 2021 crossings at Serangan Port have slowly started to increase.
“For tourist visits that cross, there is progress, not yet full. There are tourists who go to Labuan Bajo, Gili Lombok, Nusa Penida, but are still foreign nationals who have lived in Bali for a long time and are only domestic,” she said.
Nyoman Dina added that an average of 50 to 100 tourists have crossed a day since the implementation of level 3 community activity restrictions (PPKM) in Bali. Meanwhile, the number of ships crossing ranges from two to five ships a day.
“Before COVID-19, there were 30 boats rented by tourists to cross to Nusa Penida and 40 phinisi boats to Labuan Bajo. During normal times, tourists who dominate crossings at Serangan Harbor are tourists from China,” she concluded. [antaranews/photo special]
