[Bali, where tourism accounted for more than half of the prepandemic economy, had more than six million international arrivals in 2019. But so far this year, the figure is just 45, said Dayu Indah, the head of the marketing division at the island’s official tourism office. All of those travelers arrived by sea at Benoa Port, down the road from the international airport.]
By Mike Ives and Muktita Suhartono
Bali, one of the world’s most
popular destinations, is among several tourism hot spots in Southeast Asia that
have reopened — technically, at least — to international visitors in recent
weeks. For local hotels, tour operators and other businesses whose income
was obliterated
during the early part of the pandemic, the news originally brought a
smidgen of hope that 2021 might end on a positive note.
But traveling to these destinations
from other countries is such an undertaking — amid rules, fees, a lack of
flights and lingering uncertainty around new outbreaks — that very few people
have bothered.
“For all but the most determined,
it’s a pretty convoluted process to plan a short holiday,” Stuart McDonald, a
co-founder of Travelfish.org,
a guide to Southeast Asia, said of international travelers who want to vacation
in the region.
“There will be determined people
who figure it out,” added Mr. McDonald, who lives in Bali. “But for anything at
scale, we’ve got a while to wait yet.”
Bali, where tourism accounted for
more than half of the prepandemic economy, had more than six million
international arrivals in 2019. But so far this year, the figure is just 45,
said Dayu Indah, the head of the marketing division at the island’s official
tourism office. All of those travelers arrived by sea at Benoa Port, down the
road from the international airport.
“Where they come from I don’t
know,” Ms. Indah said. “Whether they are tourists or expats, I have no details.”
Recent arrival numbers at other
Southeast Asian tourist hot spots are not quite as extreme, but they are still
miserable by prepandemic standards.
In Malaysia, only a few hundred
foreign tourists have visited the resort island of Langkawi since the
government partially opened it to visitors this fall — far fewer than the
thousands that a local development authority had anticipated.
In Thailand, more than 100,000 foreign visitors arrived in November
as part of a quarantine-free entry program for fully
vaccinated tourists from dozens of countries. But the country’s total
arrival figure for the year — less than 270,000 — is still a tiny fraction of
the 40 million who came in 2019.
In Vietnam, foreign tourists
began trickling in by the dozens under pilot programs in
November, but such numbers are nowhere near the 1.8 million international
arrivals that the country recorded in November 2019, according to official data. The programs were started
before the Omicron variant was discovered and the country’s case numbers hit a
new high.
Part of the problem for Southeast
Asia’s tourism industry is that China, a major source of visitors, has imposed
so many restrictions on its citizens who travel overseas — including a
14-day quarantine when they return — that very
few of them are leaving.
Another problem is a lack of direct
flights. Cambodia, for example, reopened
to international travelers last month and has waived quarantine for
those who are fully vaccinated and submit to testing. But most travelers from
outside Asia who want to visit the country would need to transit through
aviation hubs elsewhere in the region, such as Malaysia, Mr. McDonald said.
That means additional Covid screenings.
“It’s just too complicated,” he
said. “You get stuck in quarantine and you test positive. Who wants to have a
holiday like that?”
As for Bali, the reasons not to
visit include not only a lack of direct international flights, but also
Indonesia’s 10-day quarantine for fully vaccinated people and the paperwork
required to secure a business visa. (Tourist visas have been suspended.)
Ms. Indah said that Bali’s focus
for now was on domestic tourists, and that 12,000 of them arrived by air last
weekend.
The island has prepared as much as
possible for a resumption of international tourism, she added. More than 90
percent of residents have been fully vaccinated, and more than 2,000 facilities
have passed a Covid-specific health and safety inspection.
“But if we talk about opening
borders, opening the country, the authority is with the central government, and
that’s not easy, I’m sorry to say,” she said. “There are many considerations to
consider.”
Muktita Suhartono reports for The
New York Times in Indonesia and Thailand. She joined The Times in 2018 and is
based in Bangkok.
