7th September 2022 – Bali’s Governor, Wayan Koster, strives to boost Bali’s tourism and economy. With the development of the Covid-19 pandemic in Bali is improving and stabilizing, which makes the island becomes a comfortable and safe tourist destination.
According to Koster, the number of domestic tourists visiting Bali from January 2022 to 2nd September 2022 through I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport has reached 5,123,974 people. Meanwhile, foreign tourists have reached 945,006 people. The number keeps increasing with more than 12,000 domestic tourists and 10,000 foreign tourists arriving on average every day.
Up to this point, international flights to I Gusti Ngurah Rai airport have reached up to 24 airlines. With the number of tourists in Bali, the Governor is able to push the policy of no quarantine required and the application of Visa on Arrival (VOA) for 72 countries and visa-free for 9 ASEAN countries.
The average number of foreign tourists visiting Bali every day has reached more than 50 percent compared to the number pre-Covid-19 pandemic since the end of July 2022.
This achievement surpassed the target of 40 percent on December 2022. This is because the trust of local and international residents increasing, to the point of more national and international events are held in Bali. Some examples are the Minamata Convention meetings, World Parliament meetings, World Disaster Risk Reduction meetings, and various international meetings as part of the G20 Presidency Meetings.
The increase in domestic and foreign tourist arrivals has helped Bali’s economic growth which experiences a slump in 2020 of -9.31 percent. Economic growth started to be seen in the first quarter of 2022 with 1.46 percent and the second quarter with a positive growth of 3.04 percent.
With this improvement, The Governor invites all Balinese society to develop collective awareness, continue to work hard together, synergize, collaborate, support each other with enthusiasm, and be accompanied by a prayer to ensure “Bali Risen Once More.”