Bali wants the world to know it’s back.
Dozens of world leaders and other dignitaries are traveling
to the Indonesian island for the G-20 summit, drawing a welcome spotlight on
the revival of the tropical destination’s vital tourism sector.
Tourism is the main source of income on this idyllic “island
of the gods,” which is renowned for its tropical beaches, terraced rice
paddies, mystical temples and colorful spiritual offerings.
The pandemic hit Bali harder than most places in Indonesia.
Before the pandemic, 6.2 million foreigners arrived in Bali
each year. Its lively tourism scene — fueled by hard-partying clubgoers,
chilled surfers and spiritual bliss-seekers alike — faded after the first case
of COVID-19 was found in Indonesia in March 2020. Restaurants and resorts shut
and many workers returned to their villages to try to get by.
Foreign tourist arrivals dropped to only 1 million in 2020,
mostly in the first few months of the year, and then to a few dozen in 2021,
according to government data. More than 92,000 people employed in tourism lost
their jobs and the average occupancy rate of Bali hotels fell below 20%.
The island’s economy contracted 9.3% in 2020 from the year
before and shrank further in 2021.
“The coronavirus outbreak has hammered the local economy
horribly,” said Dewa Made Indra, regional secretary of Bali province. “Bali is
the region with the most severe economic contraction.”
The island is home to more than 4 million people, who are
mainly Hindu in the mostly Muslim archipelago nation.
After closing to all visitors early in the pandemic, Bali
reopened to Indonesians from other parts of the country in mid-2020. That
helped, but then a surge of cases in July 2021 again emptied the island’s
normally bustling beaches and streets. Authorities restricted public
activities, closed the airport and shuttered all shops, bars, sit-down
restaurants, tourist attractions and many other places on the island.
Monkeys deprived of their preferred food source — bananas,
peanuts and other goodies given to them by tourists — took to raiding
villagers’ homes in their search for something tasty.
The island reopened to domestic travelers a month later, in
August, but in all of 2021 only 51 foreign tourists visited.
Things are looking much better now. Shops and restaurants in
places like Nusa Dua, a resort area where the G-20 meeting is being held, and
in other towns like Sanur and Kuta have reopened, though business is slow and
many businesses and hotels are still closed or have scaled back operations.
The reopening of Bali’s airport to international flights and
now the thousands coming for the G-20 summit and other related events have
raised hopes for a stronger turnaround, Dewa said.
More than 1.5 million foreign tourists and 3.1 million
domestic travelers had visited Bali as of October this year.
Embracing a push toward more sustainable models of tourism,
Bali has rolled out a digital nomad visa program, called the “second home visa”
and due to take effect in December. It’s also among 20 destinations Airbnb
recently announced it was partnering with for remote work, also including
places in the Caribbean and the Canary Islands.
The recovery will likely take time, even if COVID-19 is kept
at bay.
Gede Wirata, who had to lay off most of the 4,000 people
working in his hotels, restaurants, clubs and a cruise ship during the worst of
the pandemic, found that when it came time to rehire them many had found jobs
overseas or in other travel businesses.
The G-20 is a welcome boost. “This is an opportunity for us
to rise again from the collapse,” he said.
There’s a way to go.
“The situation has not yet fully recovered, but whatever the
case, life has to go on,” said Wayan Willy, who runs a tourist agency in Bali
with some friends. Before the pandemic, most of their clients were from
overseas. Now it’s mostly domestic tourists. But even those are few and far
between.
Bali has suffered greatly in the past. At times, the
island’s majestic volcanos have rumbled to life, at times erupting or belching
ash.
The dark cloud of the suicide bombings in Bali’s beach town
of Kuta that killed 202 mostly foreign tourists in 2002 lingered for years,
devastating tourism on the island usually known for its peace and tranquility.
Recent torrential rains brought floods and landslides in
some areas, adding to the burdens for communities working to rebuild their
tourism businesses.
When the situation started to improve, Yuliani Djajanegara,
who runs a business making traditional beauty items like massage oils, natural
soaps and aromatherapy products under the brand name Bali Tangi, got back to
work.
She had closed her factory in 2020 when orders from hotels,
spas and salons in the U.S., Europe, Russia and the Maldives dried up, taking
orders for her products from more than 1,000 kilograms (1 ton) to almost
nothing.
So far, Djajanegara has rehired 15 of the 60 workers she had
been obliged to lay off during the dark days of the pandemic.
She’s hopeful, but cautious.
“Tourism in Bali is like a sand castle,” Djajanegara said.
“It is beautiful, but it can be washed away by the waves.”