Bali Welcomes International Tourists Sometime In 2021

Bali had a very aggressive plan to reopen the island for incoming foreign tourists from September 11, 2020.

How this plan was going to work out as the Indonesian government makes the border decisions in Jakarta, and they decided the other week to keep the country closed for international arrivals at least until the end of 2020.

"The government is still prohibiting its citizens from traveling abroad at least until the end of 2020. In line with the policy, we also cannot open the gate to international travelers until the end of 2020 as the situation in Indonesia, including Bali, is not yet safe to welcome them," said Bali Governor Wayan Koster in a statement Saturday.

According to Koster, there is no country in the world that has allowed its citizens to travel abroad. "Many countries in the world are still implementing tight restrictions on their citizens due to the still-spreading COVID-19 pandemic, which is threatening their citizens' health and safety."

"For example, Australia has not allowed its citizens to travel abroad until 2021. This is also the case for China, Korea, Japan and many European countries," Koster said.

Not sure how informed the governor of Bali is? Some countries prevent their citizens from traveling at the moment, but most western ones do not.

Their citizens, however, may need to quarantine upon returning back home making long-haul trips, unless months-long, unfeasible

Bali tries to attract domestic tourism arrivals to the island, but those mostly cannot pay the same rates as the foreign ones, and hence the current continuous deals and flash sales by the hotels trying to increase local demand.

It is unclear when the Asia-Pacific countries that are important to the Indonesian tourism sector, such as China and Australia, allow foreign travel. Likely sometime in 2021, but when?

We continue advising against buying any international trips more than a couple of weeks out due to evolving entry and quarantine (at either end) requirements. There is also very little clarity when various transfer and entry bans are lifted.