On Sunday, Bali is eager to welcome the first flight from mainland China since all flights were stopped in February 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

State-owned airport operator PT Angkasa Pura I general manager Handy Heryudhitiawan said that the flight from Shenzhen is a charter flight.

Handy explained that there has not yet been any regular direct flight from mainland China into Bali since the pandemic. However, people from mainland China could access flights via Taipei and Hong Kong.

“There have been daily China Airline and EVA Air flights from Taipei to Bali and Cathay Pacific flights from Hong Kong to Bali,” Handy said.

The charter flight from Shenzhen is expected to be landing in Bali on Sunday at 10:40 a.m. Central Indonesia Time. The flight will bring 210 Chinese tourists onboard.

“They will stay in Bali for six nights,” Bali Tourism Agency head Tjok Bagus Pemayun told The Jakarta Post.

Pemayun said that the charter flight would give new hope to Bali tourism. “It will provide the momentum to woo Chinese travelers back to Bali,” he said.

Before the pandemic, Chinese tourists were the second-greatest nationality of travelers that visited Bali. The largest number of foreign travelers to the resort island come from Australia.

In 2017 and 2018, Chinese travelers outnumbered Australians. In 2017, authorities recorded 1.38 million Chinese travelers out of a total 5.69 million foreign travelers to Bali. Australian travelers were second with 1.09 million.

In 2018, the number of Chinese travelers slightly decreased to 1.31 million travelers, although the total number of foreign travelers visiting Bali has increased to 6.01 million. A total of 1.16 million Australian travelers were recorded that year.

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly cut the number of foreign travelers to Bali.

In 2020, only 1.09 million foreign travelers visited Bali, which included 117,209 Chinese travelers and 222,379 Australian travelers. Australian and Chinese people were still the biggest group of all nationalities of tourists visiting Bali in 2020.

As the pandemic worsened, there were only 51 foreigners visiting Bali in 2021 with no travelers from China.

In 2022, Bali tourism started to lift with total of 2.15 million foreign travelers visiting. The largest group of visitors was those of Australian nationality with a total of 511,590, followed by Indian visitors with 146,111.

Pemayun hoped that travels from China would return to their pre-pandemic volume.

“We really hope that regular direct flights from and to mainland China could be operated soon, so Chinese travelers could flock to Bali again,” Pemayun said.

Asian tourism-focused businesses are celebrating China's border reopening as businesses around Asia rekindle ties with the region's largest economy.

China was the world's largest outbound tourism market before the pandemic, and the absence of its once-US$255 billion of annual spending since borders were shut three years ago has led to financial trouble for many tourism-dependent businesses and employees.

Underscoring the improving travel-demand outlook, data from travel-website operator Trip.com Group Ltd showed an 83 percent jump in outbound searches from Dec. 26 to Jan. 5 versus the previous two-week period. Thailand, Japan, the United States, South Korea, Australia, Macao, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan were the most-searched destinations.

But some businesses in the region are striking a more cautious note, as many countries implement travel restrictions that require Chinese visitors to take predeparture COVID-19 tests and cap-flight numbers to and from the mainland.

International flights to and from China remain at only 11 percent of 2019 capacity, Cirium data showed, leading to high air fares ahead of the week-long Lunar New Year holiday beginning on Jan. 21.

Source:
courtesy of THE JAKARTA POST

by Ni Komang Erviani (The Jakarta Post)

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