Surge In COVID-19 Cases Decreases Hotel Occupancy In Bali

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DENPASAR - The surge in COVID-19 cases in Bali has greatly affected domestic tourist visits (wisdom). The level of occupancy or occupancy of hotels on the Island of the Gods is also affected.

I Gusti Ngurah Rai Suryawijaya, Deputy Head of Environmental Culture and Public Relations of the Regional Management Board of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI), said that currently, the number of local tourists visiting Bali through I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport has reached 7,000 per day.

"There is a slight or no effect, it looks like there will be a decline this week," said Suryawijaya, Wednesday, February 9.

After the Christmas and New Year's holidays (Nataru), local tourists who come to Bali per day reached 13 thousand and then decreased to 10 thousand per day.

"The arrival of domestic tourists after post-Nataru from 13 thousand decreased by 10 thousand and now omicron has increased so it has decreased again, around 7 thousand now," he added.

With the decline in local tourists to Bali, it certainly affects the occupancy rate or hotel occupancy in Bali, which is now around 15 to 20 percent. Meanwhile, before the surge in COVID-19 cases, hotel occupancy in Bali reached 30 percent.

"Automatically, if tourist visits go down, (hotel) bookings go down. Hotel occupancy rates or hotel occupancy are still around 15 to 20 percent. (Before Omicron) to 30 percent, the situation in Bali is still low," he said.

PHRI hopes that by mid-March local tourist visits will increase. But this condition can occur if the COVID-19 case is controlled.

"We expect mid-March and hopefully Omicron will be under control," said Suryawijaya.