Bali’s hotel performance is heading in a positive direction, whilst there is still a long way to go before things get back to normal.
Depending on domestic tourists alone cannot restore the situation to its previous condition. Innovation continues out in order to generate revenue.
After a year without new rooms, Bali has seen the opening of two new hotels with a total of 285 rooms; one three-star hotel with 140 rooms and one five-star hotel with 145 rooms. Bali now has a total of 60,447 rooms, with a total of 542 hotels.
Until the end of 2020, according to BPS Bali data, the number of domestic tourists was recorded at 4,596,157, a decrease of 56.4 percent compared to 2019. Meanwhile, data on foreign tourist arrivals up to April 2021 was recorded at only 34 people.
The Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry had planned to open the doors to foreign tourists in July 2021. Efforts were made by the government to accelerate the realisation of the plan including the implementation of the vaccination process.
According to the Head of the Bali Provincial Health Office, the number of Bali’s population who have been vaccinated has reached 1,325,407 (44.18%), while those who have been fully vaccinated is 636,639. To achieve immunity according to WHO standards, it is targeted that 3 million of the 4.3 million Balinese people should be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Currently, the government is facing considerable challenges regarding its plan to open Bali for foreign tourists in July as a spike in COVID-19 cases occurred in late June. Bali is preparing three areas to pilot the implementation of a travel bubble, namely Nusa Dua, Ubud, and Sanur, which have been designated as areas that will receive tourist visits. In addition, the government has set certain requirements for tourists who will later enter Bali.
The lack of domestic and international tourists visiting Bali has greatly affected the performance of hotels in Bali. Stay packages and discounts are still being offered by hoteliers to attract tourists.
Although it is still far from the performance in 2019, performance in 2021 has increased. In 2020, the AOR in April was only at 3.8 percent and 5.8 percent in May. In 2021, it increased in April to 12.4 percent and in May, it reached 13.6 percent.
Maintaining this positive trend is particularly challenging with the increasing number of cases of COVID-19 in Indonesia in recent weeks. The new restrictions on movement are, of course, burdensome for the Balinese economy.
There are many activities both for tourism and MICE in Bali. Health protocols must be followed by all stakeholders, which makes hoteliers innovate all their activities, including MICE. Many activities are carried out on a hybrid basis too so that even though the volume is reduced, the activities still exist and still bring in revenue for hotels. SOURCE: Colliers