Newsroom

Bali Hotels Association supports the calls for Bali to be exempted from the announced mudik ban. 

In a letter delivered to the Bali Tourism Government officials this week, that addressed the concern of 157 member hotels and resorts regarding the impact of the National Indonesian Government announcement to ban sea, land, air and rail travel from 6-17 May 2021 over the Eid festival. While the intention of the mudik ban is meant to prevent the further spread of the virus, the ban itself will have a very profound affect to all facets of the community in Bali. Businesses will face closure, unemployment will rise, and negative knock-on effects will be inevitable.

BHA continues to support the Indonesian National and Local Government with their endeavors to gradually reopen Bali for international tourism through green zones in Nusa Dua, Sanur and Ubud. BHA understands that the reopening of tourism requires meticulous planning and support from all stakeholders, therefore BHA continues to adding the industry voice to compel the federal and provincial government to work with the tourism sector on a restart plan that includes the lifting of travel restrictions for immunized people and for those that have tested negative for the COVID-19 virus.

We want to inform government agencies on the extent of the impact that travel restrictions have had on the island’s economy since the start of the pandemic. A strategic plan for reopening needs to be clearly mapped and communicated. Steps must be taken, big or small, to give a positive sign to the industry. Q1 2021 was one of the most challenging times in tourism. Any delays and restrictions with the vaccinations will also further affect the ability of the industry to bounce back.

Bali Hotels Association fully supports the calls from the Balinese Government and the Ministry of Tourism for a review of the latest decision to not allow domestic travel during May.

We also feel that the self-quarantine imposed is also a hindrance to the Ministry’s plan to attract more domestic tourists. Clearly Bali is not a destination to which place people “mudik”. Bali Hotels Association pledges full support to the government’s commitment to public health, but a blanket approach to the quarantine of all arrivals, irrespective of where passengers are originating from, will cause unnecessary damage to the economy and risk livelihoods of many Balinese residents.

Bali Hotels Association member businesses have worked hard to comply to the CHSE standards and have supported both the vaccine roll outs as well as the Green Zone strategy to reopen for business. We are ready.

Bali’s tourism sector needs to be handled with special treatment and we suggest the Central Government considers the calls from Bali on amending the latest regulation to exclude Bali and other tourist destinations such as Lombok and Labuan Bajo, from this new regulation. Instead of a blanket ban approach, travel to Bali should be allowed within the constraints of the current travel health requirements which are PCR antigen test, maximum passenger capacity per flight, etc.

We need to start somewhere with the economic recovery and this would be in line with the President’s direction that health effort to contain the virus should be done together with economy recovery, BHA supports the government initiatives to recover Bali people’s health and economy.