By: Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat
Indonesia, like many other countries expecting a flood of tourists from China, is wrestling with how to handle them – starting next week with the Lunar New Year holiday – now that Beijing’s stringent three-year Covid-19 lockdown has been lifted. Some 2.07 million Chinese tourists arrived in the country in 2019, the last year before the Chinese lockdown went into effect. With Beijing stopping mass testing and no longer announcing accurate daily numbers, many countries have expressed concerns on the possibility of new variants emerging, as the country reports tens of thousands of new cases even as it eases restrictions on international travel. The pandemic, which has wrought a major disruption of the global economy and taken at least 6.5 million lives, is believed to have originated in a Wuhan market. Indonesia has recorded 6.73 million cases of the coronavirus with 160,000 deaths, almost certainly an undercount, straining its health system. It fears a resurgence of the disease. China, which warned on January 3, 2023 that it would take “corresponding measures” based on “reciprocity” against what it deemed “unacceptable” travel restrictions by many countries, is Indonesia’s biggest trading partner. Accordingly, Indonesia has chosen not to carry out tightening for tourists from China and isn’t requiring testing on arrival, which has raised the hackles of many across the country. Ida Bagus Agung Parta, the chair of Bali’s tourism board, told Reuters the island would “increase” its defense, asking workers to take a second booster dose of vaccine this month In early January, the government revoked the Implementation of Restricting Community Activities (PPKM) which aims to boost the national economy in all sectors, one of which is tourism… The text above is just an excerpt from this subscriber-only story.To read the whole thing and get full access to Asia Sentinel's reporting and archives, subscribe now for US$10/month or US$100/year.This article is among the stories we choose to make widely available.If you wish to get the full Asia Sentinel experience and access more exclusive content, please do subscribe to us for US$10/month or US$100/year.
Read Asia Sentinel in the app Listen to posts, join subscriber chats, and never miss an update from Asia Sentinel.
|
