Bali Tourism Board Association has predicted that the six countries that will gain access to the island will only give a small impact to Bali’s economy in general.
The Head of the Bali Tourism Board (BTB), Ida Bagus Agung Partha Adnyana stated that the selected countries such as China, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Dubai and Abu Dhabi that will have access to Bali are expected to only give a small contribution to the economic recovery as they are not considered as “high spender” visitors according to data.
“Despite feeling grateful for the travel bubble program that was announced by the central government recently, I don’t think that visitors from those selected countries will be able to significantly contribute to the recovery of our tourism sector in Bali.” said Adnyana on Thursday (7/10). Therefore, Adnyana proposed the government to reconsider reopening the border with other countries that are expected to have a bigger impact on Bali’s tourism.
“If we start to reopen our border, we should be more open to other potential markets such as America, Russia, England, Switzerland, France, Israel, Netherland and Germany as they have been waiting to visit the island for over 1.5 years and will possibly spend more during their vacation.” Adnyana added. Meanwhile Adnyana wasn’t optimistic that South Korea will be able to travel to Bali as most of their residents are currently facing a major economic crisis due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
