Bali has been in lockdown since the beginning of this month. “Restaurants and pubs are closed. That is because the delta variant from India is hitting hard here,” says 42-year-old Maria. “In the capital Jakarta, the hospitals are filling up and the oxygen is not available.”
Tourism is on its way
Maria moved to the Indonesian island in 2011 and ran her own bar for a long time, but now she mainly does odd jobs in the field of social media. “‘The catering industry has been out of business here for a year. There are no tourists here. If you want to go here, you have to have a business visa. That costs hundreds of euros. And you have to quarantine for eight days.”
“The absence of tourists is a disaster for the country,” she says. “There is so much hunger and misery here. People have run out of food.”
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Corona-expats
There are about 100,000 long-term foreign tourists on the island. “A small group is ruining it for the entire country. Those tourists don’t give a damn about everything and ignore the corona rules. We also call them corona expats,” says Maria. “The authorities are done with it. After a period of warnings and handing out fines, ‘zero tolerance’ now applies. Anyone who does not comply with the rules will be deported.”
The first three tourists have now been put on the plane. “That was big news here too, especially on social media.” According to Maria, it doesn’t stop there. “There is still a group of 13 other tourists who will also be put on the plane. According to the reports, there is also a girl who had corona and walked down the street without a mouth cap. As far as I know, it is not about Dutch tourists.”
The local residents are also tough action, says Maria. “And companies that don’t comply with the rules are closed down.”
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‘No more food’
The authorities want Bali and Java to receive tourists again as soon as possible. “That is extremely important. That is why corona must be brought under control as soon as possible. In Bali, 60 percent have now had their first vaccination. The aim is that this should be 80 percent by August.”
Maria also had her first injection. “AstraZeneca. But I’ve already had corona. In two weeks I’ll get my second shot. Then I hope we can go back to a normal life. The Balinese really need that.”
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