When Australians will be back in Bali

Tourism Minister Dan Tehan has confirmed there are discussions with Indonesia about potential travel dates, with South Korea and Japan also at the top of the reopening wish list.

Bali is next on the list for travel bubbles with ongoing talks between the Australian and Indonesian governments.

Tourism Minister Dan Tehan confirmed that there had been discussions with Indonesia about potential travel dates, with South Korea and Japan also at the top of the reopening wish list.

And cruise ships could be back in the water before Christmas for trips around the Australian coastline, with limits on their passenger numbers to be reviewed by December 17.

Mr Tehan answered readers’ questions on this masthead’s Facebook page on Monday.

International borders will reopen from November 1 for travellers into New South Wales and Victoria, with Qantas scheduling flights to London and Singapore.

Mr Tehan, who spoke from hotel quarantine, said the glass was “three-quarters’ full” and he was sure that travel would be back in 2022.

“There’s a keenness from both the Australian and Indonesian governments to see what we can do with regards to Bali,” Mr Tehan said.

“It’s obviously an incredibly popular destination for Australians in particular, and tourism is such a huge part of the Balinese economy so we will continue to have discussions.”

Mr Tehan said the “Covid situation on the ground in Bali was continuing to improve”.

“There was the great news on Friday that the PM announced with Singapore (flights) in the next couple of weeks and my hope would be Japan, and South Korea and potentially Bali as the next sort of steps in that direction,.” he said.

Mr Tehan said there was a “pent up demand to travel” and that he was constantly asked during his recent world tour, which included a stop in Indonesia, about when Australia would reopen to tourists.

The famous sunset at Kuta beach may be within reach for Australians. Picture: AFP

Qantas announced direct flights from Melbourne to London and Singapore will start from November 23.

The national carrier will also run flights from Sydney to Singapore, Bangkok, Phuket, Johannesburg, and Fiji earlier than expected.

Fiji will open up its borders from December 1, with thousands of Australians booking a getaway there last week.

The island nation has 80 per cent of its population fully vaccinated, which has been helped by Australian-made AstraZeneca vaccines.

Virgin Australia also announced a sale on Monday, which included one-way flights to Bali for under $300.

But there are questions about the rate of vaccination on Bali, and the movement of people between there and the rest of Indonesia, which has a population of almost 300 million people.

Indonesia has administered almost 180 million vaccination doses, but its overall double dose rate was hovering around 33 per cent, according to Reuters.

Tourism Minister Dan Tehan has been working on opening up Australia to the world in a safe way. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The archipelago was reporting 633 cases a day last week, but questions remain about the scale of testing in the country, with Victoria alone reporting more than 2000 cases a day in recent weeks.

Mr Tehan visited Jakarta in September but was unable to meet with Indonesia’s tourism Minister Sandiaga Uno.

Qantas has flights booked to Denpasar, Bali’s main airport from March.

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