Badly Hurt by Pandemic, Bali Launches Grants for Tourism Industry

TheIndonesia.co - Bali's 2022 tourism development strategy will seek to increase the province's resilience and competitiveness, Deputy Governor Tjokorda Oka Artha Ardana Sukawati has informed.

He expected to release a tourism grant of Rp3.7 trillion soon. "Secondly, there is a need for additional relaxation through soft loans," Sukawati noted at a webinar, Wednesday, December 23, 2021.

Earlier, he had predicted that this year, tourism would return to normal and many debts would be repaid through tax payments and other modes.
However, it turned out that by the end of this year, there were no signs of recovery, so funding needs to be provided in the form of soft loans, he said.

With the COVID-19 pandemic extending two years, Bali's tourism facilities such as hotels and swimming pools have suffered losses, he noted. Moreover, there has been a human resource meltdown due to the obstruction of programs such as manpower exchange and training, he said.

"Without this effort (provision of additional relaxation), I am afraid that the damages will become permanent for Bali," Sukawati pointed out.

The second strategy is to upgrade competitiveness by increasing the ratio of demand oversupply to compete with other countries, he said. Bali is still oversupplied when compared to demand, he added.

"How do we talk about quality tourism if there are more sellers than the buyers. According to Commercial Law, (it means) our trade prices will fall," he remarked.

Therefore, enhancing competitiveness can be carried out by improving owned products such as hotels, restaurants, spa industries, as well as government-built products such as road infrastructure, he said.

"These are our efforts to increase durability for the short- and long-term. When we return to the normal condition later, our products' quality and human resources will be ready to compete in the global era of post-COVID 19," he remarked.