Bali to welcome direct flight from China this weekend – the first since the pandemic

File photo of the Bali airport. Photo: Coconuts Media.
File photo of the Bali airport. Photo: Coconuts Media.

A chartered flight is scheduled to fly from Shenzhen to Bali this coming Sunday carrying 210 Chinese passengers in what is going to be the first direct flight from China to the Island of Gods since the onset of the pandemic, an official has said.

Tjokorda Bagus Pemayun, the head of the Bali Province Tourism Agency, was quoted by Antara news agency as saying that his department received the confirmation from Indonesia’s Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy. 

“On Jan. 22 there will be a chartered flight from Shenzhen, China. The number of passengers is 210,” he said.

They wouldn’t be the first Chinese tourists to arrive in Bali since the pandemic, however. The agency previously noted that Bali welcomed hundreds of Chinese tourists per month towards the end of 2022, but the travelers mostly flew in via Jakarta or Singapore.

The arrival is set to coincide with this year’s Lunar New Year celebrations. The group is expected to be in Bali for six days.

This may herald a restart for regular flights from China to Bali. Prior to the pandemic, Chinese travelers were amongst the highest by volume on the island. In 2019, out of 6,275,210 recorded arrivals, 1,186, 057 or almost 20 percent came from China.

Tjokorda said that the island expects regular flights from China to be announced soon by their government. 

Indonesia has not imposed a travel ban on Chinese travelers despite soaring COVID-19 cases in China. That said, no regular flights are available from China to Indonesia per this article’s publication.



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