Bali bails on early return of tourists but Singapore door ajar

Bali is out until 2021 but Singapore is in — theoretically at least — for Australian travellers from next month.

A Singapore Airlines plane on its landing approach to Changi International Airport in Singapore on Sunday. Picture: AFP

Bali is out until 2021 but Singapore is in — theoretically at least — for Australian travellers from next month after the government there announced it was slashing the required quarantine time by half for arrivals from all Australian states and territories except Victoria.

From September 1, those few Australians with permission to travel will spend only seven days in home quarantine in Singapore, while visitors from New Zealand and Brunei will not have to quarantine at all.

All arrivals must still take a coronavirus test before they are allowed to enter the community, must apply for permission to enter the country ahead of their scheduled departure and wear a Bluetooth-enabled wristband while self-quarantining.

The move is among a suite of measures by the newly re-elected government of the hard-hit city state to kick-start its economy and revive its critical tourism ­sector by easing restrictions for visitors from low-risk nations.

Thailand is also poised to ease restrictions for some foreign visitors as early as October, with Australians likely to be among the first to be allowed back in.

But Indonesia’s tourist mecca of Bali has been forced to cancel its scheduled September 11 reopening to foreign visitors as the country grapples with a surge in infections that is once again straining hospital systems in the worst-hit cities, such as Jakarta and Surabaya.

Bali governor Wayne Koster had for weeks insisted that the island was ready to receive international tourists again, notwithstanding warnings from senior ministers in Jakarta that the country was not prepared for a reopening.

The provincial government has been gradually reopening the heavily tourism-dependent island, with Ngurah Rai airport now seeing up to 2500 arrivals a day since domestic tourism resumed on July 31.

But it bowed to the inevitable at the weekend and announced the island was now unlikely to see a resumption of international tourism before next year, citing a continued Indonesian government ban on foreigners entering the country as well as the Australian government’s travel ban for Australian citizens.

“The situation in Indonesia is not conducive to allow international tourists to visit Indonesia, including visit Bali,” Mr Koster said.

“Many countries do not allow their citizens to travel abroad … for example, Australia, whose citizens are the major visitors to Bali, only plans to allow their citizens to travel in 2021. Similarly for China, Korea, Japan and European countries.

“In principal, the central government supports the Bali government plans to recover tourism, by opening the doors for international tourists. However, this requires care, prudency, and careful preparation.

“Bali’s tourism recovery ­efforts must not fail, because it will have a bad impact on Indonesia’s and Bali’s image internationally, which will be counterproductive to tourism recovery initiatives.”

While Indonesia has established business travel corridors with the United Arab Emirates, South Korea and China, Mr Koster said it was not clear when Bali would be allowed to reopen to foreign tourists and that the timing would be “highly dependent on an assessment of both domestic and international situations”.

The decision comes days after the Indonesian government extended a deadline for foreigners to renew their visas in response to an outcry from expatriates concerned they would be forced to spend thousands of dollars on one of the limited flights leaving the country or face a $100 a day over-stay fine.

Indonesia had been granting automatic emergency visa ­extensions to thousands of foreigners in Indonesia since early March, when the pandemic sparked global travel restrictions.

Last month, it announced new visa rules giving foreigners 30 days to apply for monthly extensions, switch visas or leave the country. It has since extended that deadline to September 20.