Image: Sandiaga Uno. Credit: Berita Satu Youtube.
Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno said yesterday that the decline in COVID-19 cases in Bali was an indication that tourism could reopen on the Island of the Gods after the Java-Bali Community Activity Restrictions (PPKM) was lifted.
“We are seeing the numbers go down, which is our signal to prepare for the re-opening of Bali,” said the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy during a virtual press conference quoted in Antara on Monday.
Sandiaga said that the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy would also begin to prepare pre-conditions for the opening of Bali tourism, including reviewing the readiness of the Indonesian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), which manages the Nusa Dua area, which is designated as one of the green zones to open first. (The other green zones, Sanur or Ubud were not mentioned in the source story. Ed)
He explained, the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy has been observing the Phuket Sandbox experience which has let international foreigners travel again to Phuket (with varying success. Ed). The main focus of it being to stop local transmissions in Phuket through only vaccinated tourists arriving and adequate protocols in place which can be applied in Bali. (The recent spike in cases in Thailand, while not being in the designated sandbox zones, has put the scheme in jeopardy. Ed)
“End to end Cleanliness, Health, Safety, and Environment (CHSE) as well as the implementation of the PeduliLindung application (govt. vaccination control app) as well as coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries regarding opening to and from Bali,” said Sandiaga.
This, he said, was done because the handling of COVID-19 must of course be coordinated in order to determine the readiness for the opening of Bali.
