Just 45 international tourists visited Bali in 2021

It marks a stark difference to 2019, when the island welcomed more than 6 million tourists

Lotus Temple, Ubud, Bali (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Bali was visited by just 45 foreign tourists in the first 10 months of 2021.

Figures published by the Bali Central Statistics Agency show that most visits to the province took place at the beginning of the year, when the Indonesian island welcomed 10 tourists in January and another 12 in February.

The quietest months were July, August and September. During this time, Bali welcomed no foreign tourists.

“That is the lowest number of foreign tourist visits we’ve ever recorded,” Nyoman Gede Gunadika, section head of tourism for Bali Province, told CNN.

More than one million foreigners visited Bali in 2020 – most of whom travelled there in the first three months of the year. The total figure was significantly lower than in 2019, when 6.2 million tourists visited the island.

In October, Bali announced that fully vaccinated travellers from 19 countries, including China, India and France, could visit the island. The UK is not on the list.

As of 3 December, tourists arriving from the permitted countries must spend 10 days in quarantine, even if they are double vaccinated, due to concerns about the spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus.

On Thursday 16 December, Indonesia’s president Joko Widodo urged residents to get vaccinated as the country recorded its first case of the variant.

“I ask people who have not received the vaccine twice, immediately go to a health facility and get the vaccine,” he said.

“Even though the domestic situation is close to normal, don’t slack off implementing health protocols.”

Health minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said there were a further five suspected Omicron cases.

Two of these suspected cases were found in Indonesians who have recently returned form the US and Britain, while the other three originated in Chinese nationals who are currently in quarantine.

Indonesia has recorded more than 4.2 million cases of Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, with upwards of 140,000 deaths.