THE VIRA BALI BOUTIQUE HOTEL & SUITE

It is widely known that Covid-19 has spread all around the world, including Indonesia and Bali. As in Bali, Covid19 gives massive impacts on tourism and therefore affected to the lives of Balinese as most of the Balinese work on tourism industry.

Since international borders has been closed on April, foreign tourists have left Bali. The economic impact is felt not only by hotel owners or resort managers, but also their employees and those working in supply chains of the business. They all must quickly adapt to the new condition and fight together to survive. Some places and local businesses are closed, because they simply do not have customers, while for some hotels and venues that still open need to follow the safety regulations and health protocols. The current condition prompted the provincial government to adopt new tourism regulations more related to health protocols. Therefore, currently people need to wear a face mask outside home / hotel room and in all public spaces. Local police is applying fines for those who are not wearing face masks, as the government in Bali tightens the regulations for health protocols in order to reduce the number of Covid-19 cases in Bali until now, the Pecalang (Balinese traditional guards who usually maintain village security during religious and custom ceremonies) also maintains the implementation of health protocols in tourism destination such as beaches and temples.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, as 80% of the population depends on tourism, life is incredibly tough right now. Many people in Bali facing their salaries cuts and some of them become unemployed. They are struggling to feed their families. With this new condition, everyone is trying hard to dig their creativity to survive on this new era. Some of them are going back to farming while most still rely on food supplies provided by their local communities and charity projects. During this pandemic we can find many new ideas that can be used to collect income, many people in Bali start to stick with their hobby like cooking, gardening, and handicrafts. With homey product we try to support each other to face this situation together. Many people that come to Bali will see in some area there will be some sellers that sell fruit, face mask and agricultural product on side of the road.

Currently, Indonesian citizens can travel within Indonesia, with the required documents and a Health Certificate with a COVID-19 free result. Therefore many hospitality and hotel businesses are already actively promoting towards domestic travelers to visit Bali. For now, Bali is still become attractive destination for domestic travelers since they can enjoy Bali like the “old days” with quiet beaches, empty line ups and no traffic jams as it wasn’t as hectic as it has been the past years. Domestic travelers usually come to Bali during this pandemic to spend their long weekend holiday. Most of them will come along with their friends and family. However, the island needs tourism to revive and hopefully soon Bali will bounce back. So it is very important for international borders to re-open to make more travelers visit Bali and of course with the new applicable health rules and regulations to keep the country safe from Covid.