VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy is mulling vaccine-based tourism in Bali as part of efforts to revive the province’s tourism sector.

The plan to open Bali to tourists can continue, but it must consider the latest situation related to the COVID-19 pandemic, Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno, said here on Tuesday.

"Amid a recent surge in COVID-19 cases, we saw a decline in the number of domestic tourists visiting Bali. Therefore, we proposed a step to coordinate with the Bali governor and we reported it to the president. He agreed on vaccine-based tourism," he informed.

Vaccine-based tourism would ensure that tourists wishing to visit Bali have been vaccinated against COVID-19, he pointed out. Therefore, not only Bali residents, but also tourists traveling to Bali would have been vaccinated, he said.

The ministry is also planning to offer a "work from Bali" tourism package at a later time, Uno disclosed and thanked ministries and non-government institutions that have applied the "work from Bali" policy.

"Our thanks go to the organizations and institutions which have responded to our invitation to apply the ‘work from Bali’ policy so that we can see a rise in the number of tourists visiting Bali, with strict adherence to the heath protocols," the minister said.

Uno said in the next few days he will work from Borobudur or Magelang as an expansion of the work from destination policy.

"I think that vaccination will become the pre-condition of our revival since most of the people (who get) exposed to COVID-19 have not been vaccinated," he remarked.  (Antaranews)