JAKARTA (Reuters) – The Indonesian island of Bali has postponed a strategy to reopen the nations most significant tourism center to international tourists on Sept. 11, its guv said, due to the rising level of coronavirus cases reported in the Southeast Asian nation.
Indonesia has actually reported more than 155,000 coronavirus infections and 6,759 deaths since Monday, the highest number of casualties in Southeast Asia.
Authorities stopped international tourist in early April as the outbreak got pace.
Governor Wayan Koster stated in a declaration that plans to open Bali to foreign tourists were postponed due to the fact that the “circumstance in Indonesia isnt favorable to permit international tourists to visit the country, consisting of Bali.”
A choice on when foreign tourism might resume would depend on the “evaluation of the situation in and beyond the nation”, said Koster in the declaration signed on Saturday.
” Bali can not stop working since it might adversely affect the image of Indonesia consisting of Bali in the eyes of the world, which might prove counter-productive to the healing of travel,” he said.
Tourism is Balis primary source of earnings and travel restrictions due to the pandemic have actually hammered the regional economy.
The occupancy rate at Balis starred hotels plunged to 2.07% in May, according to Balis stats bureau, from 62.55% in December before the pandemic hit and below 51.56% in May 2019.
Bali opened up travel to local tourists on July 31, and Koster approximated 2,300-2,500 travelers came onto the island each day from then until August 14.
Bali has reported 4,576 coronavirus infections and 52 deaths since Monday.
Reporting by Stanley Widianto; Editing by Ed Davies
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