The Indonesian government is set to ditch the quarantine requirement for international travellers arriving in Bali from March 14, in a trial designed to boost the island’s tourism, a senior minister has announced.
The Indonesian government will begin a trial that ditches the arrival quarantine period for fully vaccinated international travellers.
Indonesia did have a five-day quarantine requirement for anyone arriving from overseas, until 1 March, when it dropped the requirement to a three-day quarantine for those who already received their booster vaccine dose.
But the recent news will see the restrictions eased even further, in a bid to boost Bali’s #ArrivalRevival.
“The government will conduct a no-quarantine trial for foreign travellers who come to Bali, which will take effect on March 14 under our current plan,” the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said after a meeting at the weekend with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and several cabinet members.
International visitors will still be required to show proof of hotel booking payments for at least four days if they want to enter Bali and will also be required to conduct entry PCR tests and wait at hotels for negative test results.
“If the tests show negative results, the international travellers are allowed to do other activities under health protocols,” Luhut Binsar Panjaitan said, adding that they should also carry out PCR tests again on the third day at their hotels.
If the trial in Bali is a success, it is expanded that the policy will be rolled out across Indonesia.
Bali’s international tourism relaunch has been anti-climactic since the program launched in October 2021. In fact, an official said that not one commercial international flight landed at Ngurah Rai Airport in the three months since Bali reopened to international tourists.
According to Ida Ayu Indah Yustikarini, an official at the Bali Government Tourism Office, the island has been receiving foreign visitors in the past few months via the capital Jakarta, but there were no official numbers available.
Do you think the new trial will help the island’s #ArrivalRevival? Let us know – email editor@karryon.com.au.
