Bali Tourism Association Plans Rally Against Current Travel Restrictions

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The tourism association in Bali plan to rally against the current travel requirements, which contribute to the tourism sector’s struggle to survive.

The Head of the Bali Tourism Board, IB Agung Partha Adnyana, confirmed that he plans to rally against the travel requirements which hinder international travelers from visiting the island.

“We’ve sent an open letter to the president 3 weeks ago and proposed a revision to this travel policy, but we haven’t received any response from him. If they keep ignoring us until the end of December, we plan to rally against the policy,” Adnyana said.

Adnyana stated that he has been communicating this rally with all the tourism stakeholders on the island. They plan to do it in early January 2021. “This letter has an expiry date, so we will likely do this on January. 52% of Bali’s GDP is dependant on tourism and people can’t wait any longer,” Adnyana added.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Bali Marginal Tourism Alliance, I Wayan Puspanegara, stated that this step was initiated to save the Bali economy from prolonged crisis.

Puspanegara explained that many laid-off workers from hotels, restaurants, and tourist attractions have been waiting for an actual open-border policy that will allow international visitors to visit the island with ease. However, he also stated that the rally shouldn’t cause any more chaos during this difficult time.

“Despite rallying during this partial lockdown implementation, we’ll keep complying with prevention protocols. Most tourism workers are vaccinated. Besides, we’ve already lost our patience as we haven’t seen any international tourists while many people and businesses are dying,” Puspanegara concluded.