Travel bubbles, the role of the Chinese market and speculation about when the Indonesian Government will give an all clear for international tourism have been among the topics discussed at a virtual Bali tourism forum held last week.

Hosted by Delivering Asia Communications and C9 Hotelworks together with contributions from the Bali Hotels Association and Horwath HTL, 'Bali Tourism - The Way Back' was designed to shed a light on the issues that may be faced by hotels in the region as they reopen following the COVID-19 lockdown.

Speaking at the event, Bali Hotels Association Government Relations Director, Fransiska Handoko said while hospitality businesses believed they were able to welcome visitors again, it was the responsibility of Bali's provincial government to make the final ruling.

"Our members are more than ready to reopen, with hotels continuing training programmes and maintaining standard operating procedures," she said.

"We are ready to welcome guests but the decision must come from the government."

Mr Handoko said it was logical for Indonesia to form travel bubbles with ASEAN countries because of the relatively short travel times.

"Bali and Indonesia are ready for travel bubbles," she said.

"However, the rest of the world still sees Indonesia as a high-risk country, so these plans are still in the discussion stage.

"But we are still observing how the situation will evolve."

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