VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Australia has topped the list of countries with the most visitors to Bali Island in April this year, Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno informed here on Monday.

The five countries with the most tourists to Bali in April were Australia, the United Kingdom, Singapore, the United States, and France.

"We continue to collaborate with international airline companies to increase the quantity and schedule of flights to Indonesia, especially Bali," the minister said.

In March this year, international tourist arrivals at Bali showed a significant increase of 1,030.47 percent compared to the previous month, he informed.

According to Uno, the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy is implementing a promotional program under an integrated cooperation scheme with airline companies.

One form the cooperation has taken is helping tourism industry players to participate in the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) in Dubai and South Asia's Travel & Tourism Exchange (SATTE) in India, he informed.

"These activities are expected to have a positive impact by increasing foreign tourist visits to Indonesia and encouraging the international aviation industry," Uno said.

With several relaxation policies implemented, such as the scrapping of PCR and antigen mandatory tests and the easing of the mask mandate, the ministry is also pushing international airlines to add more flights to Indonesia by opening more travel routes.

"The policy without PCR is considered necessary to increase tourism competitiveness with neighboring competitor countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand that first enacted the policy, thus impacting national economic recovery, especially in the tourism sector," Uno said.

The government's decision to ease the mask-wearing policy in open spaces is based on the controlled COVID-19 situation in Indonesia, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said on May 17, 2022.

However, the easing of the rule on wearing masks only applies outdoors and not in closed rooms or mass transportation, he added.  (Antaranews)

Australia has topped the list of countries with the most visitors to Bali Island in April this year, Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno informed here on Monday.

The five countries with the most tourists to Bali in April were Australia, the United Kingdom, Singapore, the United States, and France.

"We continue to collaborate with international airline companies to increase the quantity and schedule of flights to Indonesia, especially Bali," the minister said.

In March this year, international tourist arrivals at Bali showed a significant increase of 1,030.47 percent compared to the previous month, he informed.

According to Uno, the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy is implementing a promotional program under an integrated cooperation scheme with airline companies.

One form the cooperation has taken is helping tourism industry players to participate in the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) in Dubai and South Asia's Travel & Tourism Exchange (SATTE) in India, he informed.

"These activities are expected to have a positive impact by increasing foreign tourist visits to Indonesia and encouraging the international aviation industry," Uno said.

With several relaxation policies implemented, such as the scrapping of PCR and antigen mandatory tests and the easing of the mask mandate, the ministry is also pushing international airlines to add more flights to Indonesia by opening more travel routes.

"The policy without PCR is considered necessary to increase tourism competitiveness with neighboring competitor countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand that first enacted the policy, thus impacting national economic recovery, especially in the tourism sector," Uno said.

The government's decision to ease the mask-wearing policy in open spaces is based on the controlled COVID-19 situation in Indonesia, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said on May 17, 2022.

However, the easing of the rule on wearing masks only applies outdoors and not in closed rooms or mass transportation, he added.  (Antaranews)

South Korea's daily new COVID-19 infections dropped to below 10,000 for the first time in nearly four months on Monday, as the highly contagious Omicron variant recedes despite eased pandemic restrictions.

The figure of 9,975 is the lowest since South Korea reported 8,570 cases in late January, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.

South Korea ditched most of its pandemic-related restrictions, including an outdoor mask mandate, earlier this month as cases slowed after peaking at more than 600,000 in mid-March. read more

The decline in infections comes as its neighbour, North Korea, is battling the country's first confirmed outbreak of COVID while refusing most outside help and keeping its border shut.

North Korea reported 167,650 new patients suffering from fever on Monday, raising the total caseload tallied since late April to 2.81 million, state news agency KCNA said. The official death toll stood at 68. 

Apparently deprived of testing supplies, North Korea has not confirmed the total number of people testing positive for the coronavirus. (Reuters)

Space is a key area of cooperation for Japan with the United States, its closest ally, amid heightened tensions with an increasingly assertive China, which itself aims to become a space power.

Tokyo has said it hopes to put one of its astronauts on the lunar surface - the first non-American - in the latter half of the 2020s as part of NASA's Artemis programme to return humans to the moon.

Japan has an extensive space programme, mainly focused on developing launchers and space probes. But it doesn't have a human flight programme and has relied on the United States and Russia to carry its astronauts into space. More Japanese have visited the International Space Station other than citizens of the United States and Russia.

Space cooperation was on the agenda when U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met on Monday. The allies announced progress in the Artemis programme and confirmed their intention to include a Japanese astronaut on Gateway, a human outpost near the moon.

Biden is visiting Tokyo this week as part of his first Asian trip since taking office.

Japan's space ambitions, and investment, are welcome by the United States as it tries to stay ahead of China in a potential new space race. Beijing plans to complete its first space station by the end of this year.

Japan's space agency, JAXA, last year reopened astronaut recruitment for the first time in more than a decade to revive its pool of ageing astronauts.

Japan is due to help the European Space Agency (ESA) build the main habitat module of the U.S.-planned orbiting lunar outpost, Gateway, that will be used in moon landings.

Japan also built the Kibo experiment module on the International Space Station and resupply missions have been lifted into space by its heavy launch rockets.

Japan's aerospace industry was dismantled at the end of World War Two but it has fostered its space industry through industrial heavyweights such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (7011.T) and Mitsubishi Electric (6503.T).

MHI rockets launching from the Tanegashima Space Centre off the southwestern island of Kyushu have delivered payloads including the Michibiki satellites that have bolstered the U.S. global positioning system (GPS) in Asia.

The launch of the new H3 rocket being developed by MHI and JAXA was delayed earlier this year due to engine problems.

The growth of the U.S. private space industry centred on companies such as Elon Musk's SpaceX has transformed the market for launch services.

Japan also aims to cultivate its space startup scene with businesses including space debris removal company Astroscale and Ispace, which is developing landers and rovers for lunar exploration.

Billionaire Yusaku Maezawa became the first private passenger to visit the ISS in more than a decade after launching on a Soyuz rocket in December. (Reuters)