The Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) from Gianyar has urged the central government to reopen the travel corridor for international tourists and requested financial loans for hotels. The Head of Gianyar PHRI, Pande Adit, explained that the government should consider options to advance the reopening, including PCR testing on arrival and free quarantine for all international visitors.
Adit used United Arab Emirates (UAE) as an example as they recently made the decision to reopen borders, influencing a positive result on their economy.
“We can learn from what the UAE has done, they already opened their borders to travelers while providing PCR testing upon arrival to ensure that they are free from COVID-19. UAE understood that tourism is the sector that will help their people to survive, especially after realizing that they might run out of oils in the future,” Pande Adit said.
Adit added that the government needs to provide quarantine facilities to accommodate those confirmed positive with COVID-19 after getting tested.
In reference to hotels, Adit stated that many accommodation businesses in Gianyar are resorting to selling their assets in order to survive the economic crisis in Bali and urged the government to provide soft loans.
Accordingly, he requested the government allow a two year pay-back period for the first instalment.
“If the hotels have to pay the installment right away, it would become a burden for them. So I think the solution is to reopen the border for international visitors so they will be able to pay off their loans and create some economic activity,” Pande concluded.
Evidently, the crisis has destroyed many businesses in Bali due to lack of tourism leaving them unable to pay their cost of maintenance, electricity, and staff salary.
Source: The Bali Sun
