German expat Pak Kriss lives high on the cliffs above Bali’s Jimbaran resort area and enjoys an unimpeded view of the island’s international airport.
Mr. Kriss recalls that the airport, which consists of a single runway that extends out into the ocean, handled 700 aircraft per day at its pre-pandemic heyday, bringing more than 6.3 million foreign tourists to the Indonesian island each year.
He continues with a sweeping motion of his hands, “Then one day… nothing.” He thought it would last a few of weeks, but it continued for two years.
Just one million international visitors came to the island in 2020, almost all of them arriving before March of that year, when Bali and the rest of the globe fell into lockdown. Then, only 45 foreign visitors were said to have visited the island in 2021. Only 45 individuals, yes.
Back in February, Mr. Kriss impatiently awaited the arrival from Singapore of the first foreign passenger flight in 24 months.
The foreigner, who owns a digital marketing and web design company serving the neighborhood tourism sector, even videotaped the occasion on his phone. He shared the optimism of many Bali residents, especially after the island abandoned quarantine regulations for foreign tourists in March.
He claims there’s no need for celebration, though, given the computer screens in his home office display the most recent visitor statistics.
237,710 foreign visitors arrived in Bali in May, up from 114,684 the previous month but only half as many as in the same month in 2019. The modest target established by Indonesia’s tourism minister is for Bali to get 1.5 million foreign visitors overall in 2022.
Bali won’t return to its pre-coronavirus population levels for at least ten years, predicts Mr. Kriss.
He thinks that a perfect storm of the conflict in Ukraine, high global inflation, and residual worries over Covid-19 makes it difficult for foreign tourists to travel to more isolated locations like Bali.
Driving through the once-bustling tourist hubs of Kuta, Seminyak, and Nusa Dua, where tourism makes up more than 60% of the island’s economy, one can instantly see Covid’s influence.
Numerous tourist-related establishments, including pubs, restaurants, nightclubs, stores, and villas, are vacant or deserted; some have even been taken over by the island’s all-pervasive jungle flora. And the streets, which were previously filled with tourists from Australia, Asia, and Europe, are still unsettlingly quiet.
In April, Made Suryani reopened her little souvenir shop adjacent to the Club Med Beach resort in Nusa Dua, despite the fact that the majority of the other stores around are still closed.
She claims that before to Covid, a successful month would see her earning more over two million rupiah ($140; £116). That was a little less than Bali’s minimum salary for workers.
“I now occasionally earn 50,000 rupiah every week. I borrowed money from family to get by, and I have no idea how I’ll be able to repay them “she claims.
The area where some of the island’s best restaurants once stood at the shopping and dining complex Bali Collection in Nusa Dua is now gated off and empty. About 80% of the remaining flats are still vacant.
