Bali Governor: Tourists Rise 30 Percent, But COVID-19 Cases Also Rise

BADUNG - Bali Governor Wayan Koster said the level of tourist visits to the Island of the Gods at the end of 2021 was quite good. But COVID-19 cases have also been creeping up.

"In 2022, it seems that it is starting to improve because domestic tourists have started to arrive in Bali. Even though it has only reached about 30 percent of the normal situation," Koster said when giving a speech at the technical coordination meeting of the governor of the deputy central government of the Ministry of Home Affairs in 2022, in Nusa Dua, Badung Regency, Bali, Thursday, January 27.

According to him, at the end of the year until early January 2022, the number of local tourists who came was quite high. According to Koster, the hotel occupancy rate is better than the period before the year-end holidays.

"Hotels have a fairly high occupancy rate, but I estimate that when we return, in about two or three weeks, COVID-19 in Bali will definitely increase, and it is true that the number of COVID-19 in Bali Province has increased again," he added.

During the last three months, the number of active cases of COVID-19 in Bali has been in single digits, with patients dying on average zero cases. Meanwhile, the number of cures is higher than the number of new cases.

"Now this week, it has increased to two digits and yesterday it was only the first time it had broken through to three digits. Yesterday there were 139 new cases. Then, 9 people recovered but astungkara died zero," said Koster.

This condition is expected to continue in the future. Therefore, the Bali Provincial Government is intensifying testing, tracing and treatment.

"I think if it goes up, it will continue to go there (up). We have to do tracing, testing and treatment. So in the next few months it will rise again. Hopefully, Omicron will not be so affected in Bali Province and so far, we have observed from the results of the Omicron laboratory that not so many have entered the province of Bali," said Koster.

What is certain, he continued, is that Bali needs tourism recovery in the short term. A number of activities, including from the ministry held in Bali, called Koster, helped the condition of Bali.

"So we really need the restoration of tourism and in the short term, indeed the capital is people coming to visit Bali. Like the activities carried out by the ministry," said Koster.