Indonesia will suspend its visa-on-arrival policy for a month from Friday to curb the spread of the deadly COVID-19.
The move will effectively shut down the country’s tourism industry. It brings the same economic pain already rippling through Rome, Singapore, Barcelona and other tourists destinations.
Meanwhile, in Bali, the de-facto border closure could prove catastrophic for the population of 4.2 million people. More than three-quarters of the economy is the tourism aspect. If the tourism is banned, the Bali tourism will shut down.
Over the last 15 years, young people have moved to tourist areas for jobs, while at the same time, their parents have sold their rice paddies to developers.
“There’s been this huge transition where almost everyone has placed all their eggs in the tourism basket,” Taylor added. “The result of taking that away would be catastrophic.
“In most Western countries, households have some financial buffer. But in Bali, most people earn only a couple of hundreds of dollars a month. They live from day-to-day or month-to-month. If they lose their jobs, they will have nothing to fall back on.”
Cracks Beginning to Show
For the past few weeks, Bali has proven particularly resilient to the global decline in tourism caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Foreign arrivals dropped 20 percent last month, following a February 5 ban on tourists who had been in China in the past 14 days.
As of March 18, 17 people have died, and 227 have been infected with COVID-19 in Indonesia, although experts from other countries have long worried the real number is probably much higher.
Tourists and expats are now leaving Bali in droves over fears the airport will close and they will be stuck on the island for weeks or even months.
According to Aljazeera, “I’ve decided to leave,” said Camilla Cahill, a British tourist. “It’s not about wanting to leave or stay. My community of friends here are all leaving. If I get sick, I don’t think there will be anyone left to call here. In the UK, I will have my family and support system.”
