Tourists from 19 countries will be fully immunized on the island of Bali in October. The airport is not yet receiving international flights, and only two foreign nationals arrived that month.
In recent weeks, several Southeast Asia tourism hot spots have reopened to international visitors, including one of the world's most popular destinations. The news that 2021 might end on a positive note for local hotels, tour operators and other businesses who lost income during the early part of the epidemic brought a bit of hope.
Traveling to these destinations from other countries is a lot of work, with rules, fees, a lack of flights and uncertainty around new outbreaks making it hard for many people to bother.
Stuart McDonald, a co-founder of Travelfish.org, a guide to Southeast Asia, said that planning a short holiday in the region is difficult.
There will be people who figure it out. We have a while to wait for anything at scale.
More than six million international arrivals came to the island in 2019. Dayu Indah, the head of the marketing division at the island's official tourism office, said the figure is 45 so far this year. The travelers arrived at Benoa Port by sea from the international airport.
Ms. Indah didn't know where they came from. I don't have any information about them, whether they are tourists or expats.
The recent arrival numbers at other Southeast Asian tourist hot spots are still miserable.
In Malaysia, only a few hundred foreign tourists have visited Langkawi since the government partially opened it to visitors this fall, far fewer than the thousands that a local development authority had anticipated.
More than 100,000 foreign visitors arrived in Thailand in November as part of a program that allowed them to enter without a visa. The total arrival figure for the year is less than 270,000, but it is still a lot of people.
In Vietnam, foreign tourists began to trickle in by the dozens under pilot programs in November, but they are not close to the 1.8 million international arrivals that the country recorded in November. The country's case numbers hit a new high after the Omicron variant was discovered.
China, a major source of visitors to Southeast Asia, has imposed a lot of restrictions on its citizens who travel overseas, which is a problem for the tourism industry.
There is a lack of direct flights. Cambodia reopened to international travelers last month and has no requirement to submit to testing for vaccine or immunization. Most travelers from outside Asia who want to visit the country would need to transit through Malaysia, Mr. McDonald said. Additional Covid screenings are required.
He said it was too complicated. You test positive after being stuck in Quarantine. Who would want to have a holiday like that?
There are reasons not to visit the island, including the lack of direct international flights, a 10-day scurvy for fully vaccineed people, and the paperwork required to get a business visa. Tourist visas have been suspended.
Ms. Indah said that 12,000 domestic tourists arrived by air last weekend, and that the focus was on them.
She said that the island has prepared as much as possible for a restart of international tourism. More than 2,000 facilities have passed a Covid-specific health and safety inspection, and more than 90 percent of residents have been fully vaccined.
She said that it was not easy to open borders and the authority was with the central government. There are a lot of considerations to consider.
