Oi, oi, oi, Aussies may soon be able to book a direct flight to Bali after Indonesia’s tourism minister teased Jetstar’s imminent return to the Island of the Gods.
Speaking to the press today, Minister Sandiaga Uno today gave an update on the central government’s push to revive Bali’s international tourism appeal. Most notably for us in Bali, the minister said to expect low-cost carrier Jetstar Australia to resume direct flights to the island soon.
“Now there are three carriers that are bringing foreign tourists to Bali, namely SQ (Singapore Airlines, JQ (Jetstar Australia), and GA (Garuda Indonesia),” he said.
Garuda last week carried six tourists from Tokyo’s Narita Airport to Bali to herald the island’s international tourism re-relaunch. The Indonesian flag carrier is flying the route once a week.
Meanwhile, Singapore Airlines is set to resume daily direct flights from the Little Red Dot to Bali on Feb. 16.
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Sandiaga did not divulge further details about Jetstar’s return, including its specific date and from which Australian cities the flights would depart from. However, after perusing Jetstar’s website, we did find tickets for near-daily direct flights from Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport, starting on Feb. 14.
Starting Feb. 4, the government said tourists from any country can come to Bali using an e-visa. For the October 2021 international tourism relaunch, only tourists from 19 countries, including New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, and Japan but excluding, most notably, Australia and Singapore, were allowed entry to Bali.
There is no Bali-specific concession regarding mandatory quarantine to begin with, as foreign tourists are still expected to undergo five days of hotel quarantine if they’re fully-vaccinated, and seven days if they’re partially vaccinated.
Bali’s international tourism relaunch has been anti-climactic since the program launched in October 2021. In fact, an official said that not one commercial international flight landed at Ngurah Rai Airport in the three months since Bali reopened to international tourists.
Prior to the reopening, the island only saw 45 international tourists arriving in the first 10 months of 2021.
Tourism operators have lamented Indonesia’s strict travel restrictions and have called for exceptions to be made for Bali’s tourists.
Bali welcomed 6 million tourists in 2019. The island, which is almost entirely reliant on the tourism industry, came to a standstill when the pandemic hit.
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