Jakarta (ANTARA) - Vice President Ma’ruf Amin has said he is optimistic that Bali’s tourism sector will recover soon due to the decline in COVID-19 cases nationwide and an increase in booster vaccinations among Bali residents.
Amin delivered the statement while monitoring the micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) area on Jerman Beach, Badung, Bali, on Tuesday.
“Today, I visited the beach to monitor MSMEs, and I saw that the community’s economic activities in Bali, especially in Kuta, have started to grow (again),” he said.
Bali’s booster vaccination coverage, which has reached 86 percent, has supported its becoming a safe place to visit, the Vice President noted. He said that he is optimistic Bali’s economy will revive.
"This shows that Bali has actually recovered. Thus, foreign tourists, as well as local tourists, do not need to worry about coming to Bali," he added.
The Vice President said the promotion of Bali's tourist destinations needs to be intensified, both inside the country and abroad.
The supervisor of enterprise units on Jerman Beach, Ni Luh Gede Sri Mediastuti, reported to the Vice President that tourism around Jerman Beach has started to recover.
However, she noted that the situation has not fully improved yet. For that reason, she expressed the hope that the government would push Bali's tourism revival.
"Visitors have started to come. Our activities have been reactivated though not maximal yet; only 20 percent," Mediastuti said.
Earlier, Statistics Indonesia (BPS) had reported a significant increase in international tourist arrivals in Bali via air transportation.
According to the data, at Ngurah Rai Airport, Bali, the number of international tourist arrivals has jumped by a significant 487,133.33 percent—from just 3 arrivals recorded in March 2021 to 14,617 arrivals in March 2022.
