Covid 19 Impact on Bali: Will Bali Re-Create Tourism?

        The tourism industry is the biggest economic sector of Bali. Based on data reported by the Badan Pusat Statistik (BPS), tourism sector contributed 48.3% of the total Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) of Bali. This condition is very risky, considering that tourism is a tertiary service sector that is very sensitive to economic situation.  Bali also doesn't even have a manufacturing sector and other primary sectors.
        Finally, fears from various parties have been proven since Covid-19 devastated various industrial sectors. One of the most affected industries is the tourism industry. This was due to crowd restrictions and visit restrictions to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 outbreak. As a result Bali as one of the main tourist destinations in the world suffered a severe blow.
        Bali even became a cluster of imported case distribution from tourists and migrant worker.  And, there's another thing to worry about is the case from local transmissions, as has happened in several other provinces. Based on statistic data, there's  30-80 new cases per day.  That is a very serious condition considering that until now Covid-19 doesn't have any vaccine so everyone has a risk for being infected.
        The economic impact on Bali is very serious. BPS recorded as of April 2020, the number of foreign tourists visiting Bali have a drastic decrease of 99.93% year on year. The data impact on room occupancy data decreased by 57.11 points. Even according to the Head of the Bali Province Manpower and Labor Office, I.B. Ardha said that there were 1,451 workers who had been permanently laid off and 57,159 people temporarily laid off. This data does not include informal sector workers who are not recorded. Increasing the number of unemployed people will certainly be at risk of causing various social problems such as rising crime rates. Of course we cannot wait until the Covid-19 vaccine is discovered, so Bali needs to prepare to "make friends" with this pandemic in a new normal era.
        The Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economic has planned to make Bali as a pilot project, considering that Bali have lowest fatality rate in Indonesia. The tourism sector must constantly learn and improvise in order to survive in the pandemic era. One program that is being discussed by the government is Cleanliness, Health, and Safety (CHS) in the tourism sector. The aim is to implement healthy and clean tourism in tourist destinations. The SOP program is being compiled and simulated by the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and various related institutions.
        However, the most important thing is that the program is not only limited to SOP, but also needs to have socialization, standard training, additional infrastructure, and supervision from all relevant parties esspecially Bali's Desa Adat. This must involve all of Balinese citizen. The tourist destination manager certainly has received systematic socialization and training on health protocol standards in the tourist destination. During pandemic conditions, Bali can optimize natural tourism with minimal physical contact. The concept of "back to nature" with the value of cultural treasures and guaranteed health protocols can be a new tourist attraction for Bali. Minimize physical contact can be made by limiting the number of tourists in a destination to prevent increased potential for transmission. One solution is to utilize mobile applications that must be downloaded by tourists. The application makes it easier for tour managers and goverment to track and monitor tourist destinations. Travel destinations also need to equip themselves with health infrastructure such as increasing sink, providing thermometers for monitoring body temperature and health service unit.
        Not only at tourist sites, Bali also needs to have strict SOPs throughout all entrances, both sea and air. A tourist filter system at each entrance needs to be carried out considering that many other regions are clustered in the distribution of Covid-19. Adequate health posts and rapid test posts are needed at all entrances of Bali. And most importantly, integrated supervision must be carried out involving both the government and the desa adat to ensure that all SOPs and health protocols are implemented properly. Undoubtedly with a good SOP and implementation in the field can reduce transmission rates and generate tourism in Bali. The concept of nature tourism with local treasures and guaranteed health protocols can even become a new branding for Bali tourism. The handling of health protocols involving desa adat will be a new attraction for tourists. Will Bali re-create a new tourism? Yes we will!