Six passengers from Japan planned to arrive as tourists for the first time in Bali since I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport was opened for international flights on 14th October.
Secretary of the Bali Province COVID-19 Task Force Made Rentin emphasised that his team was ready to welcome international tourists with strict health protocols and had coordinated with I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport.
“The international arrivals terminal at Ngurah Rai stated its readiness. Moreover, tomorrow’s first Garuda (Indonesia) flight will only contain six passengers,” said Rentin, Wednesday 2nd February 2022.
Stakeholder Relations Manager Angkasa Pura I (Persero) Ngurah Rai Airport Taufan Yudhistira on Wednesday stated that Garuda Indonesia’s Narita-Denpasar route will arrive in Bali on 3rd February around 4:35 pm WITA, marking as the first international commercial flight.
“Basically, Ngurah Rai Airport together with stakeholders are ready to receive international flight services. We have prepared facilities, we have improved our services, and we are ready,” explained Yudhistira.
Upon arrival in Bali, the tourists will be directed to the arrivals terminal to carry out a series of body temperature checks. Rentin explained that if a foreign tourist is found with a temperature above 38 degrees Celsius, they will be directed to a further examination room by the Port Health Office to carry out a PCR swab test.
After a PCR swab test, foreign tourists will proceed for immigration checks and then be placed in a special room to wait for the test results and undergo data collection by the quarantine hotel.
Arrivals are required to book their quarantine hotel ahead of time. If the PCR result is negative, they can head to the quarantine hotel.
The five hotels prepared for the travel bubble include The Westin Nusa Dua, Grand Hyatt, Royal Tulip Springhill Jimbaran, Griya Santrian Sanur, and Viceroy Bali Ubud.
“Those who arrive on Thursday have requested to quarantine at the Grand Hyatt Hotel,” Rentin said.
Furthermore, foreign tourists who are positive and include people without symptoms will go to an isolation hotel which is a different place from the quarantine hotel.
“At the airport, we split into two. Those who are positive but have no symptoms will be placed in isolation hotels, which are different from quarantine. Second, if they are found positive with symptoms, especially severe, they will be taken to a referral hospital. There is a total of 62 COVID-19 referral hospitals, of which 19 hospitals are for overseas travellers in Ubud, Sanur, Nusa Dua, Badung, under the coordination of Sanglah Hospital,” he added.
Besides Garuda Indonesia, there will also be other international flights, namely Singapore Airlines starting 16th February 2022 and Batik Air, both operating the Singapore-Denpasar route.
Singapore Airlines is planning a daily flight while Batik Air and Garuda Indonesia have not provided information on their flight schedule yet, said Yudhistira.
The Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) in Badung considers the Japan-Bali flights to be good news for tourism in Bali. The chairman of PHRI Badung I Gusti Agung Rai Suryawijaya said he was invited to welcome tourists from Narita Japan, Thursday.
“Hopefully there will be a lot of tourists coming because the government has expanded its network to countries with small COVID-19 cases,” he said, Wednesday.