Bali welcomes back foreign travelers as COVID cases subside

By FIRDIA LISNAWATI
Associated Press

DENPASAR, Indonesia (AP) — The Indonesian resort island of Bali is welcoming international travelers to its shops and white-sand beaches for the first time in more than a year. They must be vaccinated, test negative, hail from certain countries, quarantine for five days and heed restrictions in public. President Joko Widodo credited Bali’s high vaccination rate for the decision to reopen the island. Indonesia’s COVID-19 caseload has also declined considerably since peaking around 56,000 daily in July. The number of foreign arrivals to the island dropped six-fold last year. A hotel manager hoped the occupancy rate would return to normal, saying “We have been waiting for this moment for so long.”