Indonesia to reopen Bali, Bintan and Batam resort islands to foreign tourists by end of July, including from China, Singapore and India
- Government also in talks with South Korea, the Netherlands and United Arab Emirates for potential travel bubbles allowing visitors to Indonesia’s so-called ‘green zones’
- Slower-than-expected inoculation and fears of a resurgence in Covid-19 cases could, however, throw a spanner in the works
Indonesia aims to welcome back foreign tourists to the resort islands of Bali, Bintan and Batam by the end of July, with a plan to speed up vaccinations in those areas to halt the spread of the coronavirus.
The government is in talks with Singapore, China, South Korea, India, the Netherlands and United Arab Emirates for potential travel bubbles that will allow their nationals to visit Indonesia’s so-called “green zones”, or sites that have curbed Covid-19 infections and vaccinated a significant portion of their local population, said tourism and creative economy minister Sandiaga Uno.
Ukraine and Poland had also submitted requests to Indonesia, guaranteeing a set number of tourists that could travel to the Southeast Asian nation on charter flights, Uno said. This would ease a government ban imposed since March 2020, prohibiting most foreign nationals from entering or transiting through Indonesia during the pandemic.
Indonesia joins the likes of Thailand and Hong Kong in considering to allow limited foreign travel to support their ailing tourist industries. Like its neighbours, though, slower-than-expected inoculation and fears of a resurgence in Covid-19 cases are throwing a spanner in the works.
Central to Indonesia’s plan will be vaccine supply, which is expected to fall short this month due to export curbs in producing countries. Shots are currently prioritised for the elderly and frontline workers in Covid-19 hotspots such as Jakarta, but a new directive from President Joko Widodo aimed to include Bali in the list, Uno said.
