Indonesia’s plan to get Australians back to Bali

An opportunity for face-to-face talks about Bali between Sandiaga and Australia’s Trade and Tourism Minister Dan Tehan was missed late last month because the Indonesian minister didn’t know Tehan was in Jakarta.

Sandiaga said Tehan’s host for the trade-focused visit, Trade Minister Muhammad Lutfi, wasn’t aware that Tehan also held the tourism portfolio and by the time the message got through he wasn’t available, so had his deputy meet with the Australian instead.

Asked during a virtual press conference in Jakarta about when Australians might be able to travel to Bali again, Tehan vowed to “stay very closely in touch” with Indonesia on the plans.

“Obviously we have to hit that 80 per cent national vaccination rate … then we have to work through in partnership with countries around the world exactly how that opening up will take place,” Tehan said.

Indonesia, which has recorded more than 142,000 deaths to the virus, has seen new cases fall from over 56,000 a day in July to less than 2000 daily after the introduction of strict protocols.

In Bali, where 78 per cent of the population was fully vaccinated as of Friday after President Joko Widodo put the island at the front of the queue, new infections are now down to double digits each day.

But with officials being told by public health experts that a third wave later this year is all but inevitable, authorities are taking “baby steps” with Bali. Foreign tourists will, from this week, have to undergo eight days in hotel quarantine on arrival, with the government leaning towards only letting in travellers who are fully vaccinated.

The country will aim to convince Australians that Bali is a safe destination again “based on science”, Sandiaga said.

“Once the vaccinations reach their intended target before hopefully the end of the year, we’re going to start the booster program and Bali will be the priority area,” he said.

“When the data will confirm that the number of new cases, the number of active cases, the bed occupancy rates, testing, tracing … are at a respectable level, it is a good advertisement for incoming Australian tourists to come in.“

He said in terms of virus-related requirements and certifications, “Bali would really be in line with what the Australians are preparing [for] post-pandemic”.

There were 1.23 million Australian visitors to Bali in 2019, more than any other nationality.

But while the absence of foreign tourists has crushed the island’s economy, it is looking to pivot to a less-is-more approach.

Backpackers and party seekers won’t be shut out but the government has a different kind of tourist in mind for Bali, believing the island is suitable to post-pandemic travel that is “more personalised, customised, localised and smaller in size”.

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“Bali continues to stay on top of priority lists for people to visit but we have to be very careful. We need to make sure that Bali can continue to attract that demand and we should not [have] a strategy that is actually going to risk…