Bali Vice Governor, Tjokorda Oka Artha Ardhana Sukawati (Cok Ace), has proposed that the central government add more flights for domestic tourists to Bali.
Cok Ace asked the central government to add more domestic flights to Bali as tourism is slowly reviving. He emphasized the year-end holiday season when a large number of domestic visitors come into the island. The Tourism Minister himself admitted that all the flights to Bali were always fully booked.
“I just recently met our Tourism Minister and he admitted that all flights were full of passengers, causing many potential domestic visitors to postpone their trip to Bali,” Cok Ace said during a talk show about ‘Reviving Bali Tourism During The Pandemic’ on Friday (17/12).
He mentioned that the Transportation Authority is required to evaluate this situation as Bali has been receiving an average of 13,000 visitors each day. Cok Ace also admitted that the Bali provincial government has been trying to communicate with the central government concerning the potential revision of the current travel restrictions. This is part of the effort to attract international visitors in the future.
After discussing this issue with the Tourism Minister, Sandiaga Uno decided to add another 250 visa applicants each day. Previously, they processed only 1,500 per day.
However, Cok Ace still hopes that the current quarantine and flight policies could be revised soon as international visitors are a massive contribution to Bali’s economy prior Covid-19 pandemic.
“I don’t want to be picky, but we have to admit that domestic tourists tend to stay around the southern part of the island while international tourists tend to spread evenly across the island,” Cok Ace concluded.
