Not one day goes by without hearing or reading about it, the Wuhan Coronavirus has got to us all around the globe. In Bali, there are still no confirmed cases of people with this so-called ‘killer virus’ but it’s already killing tourism on the island, affecting the lives the locals in disastrous ways. Yes, Bali Island is feeling the cold despite no recorded cases!
Bali – a place so undeniably entwined with tourism is suffering. Many holidayers are scared to travel and they’ve cancelled their trips and holidays to the island. This means no or very little income for the local taxi drivers, street vendors, shop owners, homestay, villa owners and so on. .
Nathan Ryan, marketing manager of Bali Realty Holiday Villas, one of the biggest villa rental companies in Bali, says they are currently operating at occupancy levels of just 30% due to to the decrease of tourists coming in after the virus outbreak. He also says 80% of the current guests are coming from Australia. His company are offering guaranteed refunds or the ability to move your booking to another date within the next 12 months in the same villa to anyone who has their flights cancelled due to the coronavirus or can not travel due to quarantine restrictions. These conditions apply to all new bookings made after 29 February, 2020.
Compared to January 2020, tourists arriving on the island of Bali have dropped with 33% in February. At this moment, the Australians are keeping the Bali Tourism Market alive.
Flights to and from China have been banned for weeks already since the 5th of February and the government also imposed travel bans from Italy and Iran since early March. Thermal screenings and being applied at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali. Anyone with symptoms like fever or higher temperature is sent to the hospital for 14 days of isolation and observation. There are 3 hospitals for treating coronavirus patients if needed and tests are currently being sent to Jakarta, giving results in 2-3 days after the check.
One of the biggest fears now is Australia imposing travel bans to Bali and Indonesia. This would make the tourism market collapse completely and thousands of local jobs will be at stake.
Save Bali and don’t cancel your trips! Beautiful as always, quieter than ever and as for this moment, still perfectly safe. Bali needs you!
P.S: Bali still has plenty of toilet rolls in stock, if that’s something troubling your mind 😉
