Bali reopens for business: Holiday island plans to invite tourists to return in MAY

The resort island of Bali could reopen for holidaymakers next month as Indonesia tries to forge a path out of the coronavirus pandemic. Flights to Indonesia were suspended on April 2 as nations around the world closed their borders in an attempt to curb the rate of COVID-19 infections. Tourism businesses in Bali were among the hardest hit by the travel restrictions with more than 46,000 employees being furloughed last week. But the island's tourism boss is optimistic that the resort could open its doors to tourists again in May if the Balinese people are 'disciplined' about social distancing. 'The key is no more local transmissions. When we achieve that, not even until June, even May we can start welcoming Chinese tourists,' head of the Tourism Agency in Bali Putu Astawa told local publication Tribun on Thursday. While the Indonesian government was adamant it would focus on eliminating the virus before opening the borders, tourists from countries recovering from the outbreak will be the targets of tourism campaigns. Those countries include China, which recorded 12 new cases of the virus as of Tuesday morning, South Korea which had 13 cases, and Japan which had none. Indonesian president Joko Widodo is confident the pandemic will be resolved by the end of the year and expects tourism to flourish in 2021. 'Everyone is yearning to go out, people want to enjoy the beauty of tourism and so this is the optimism that we must continue to build on,' he said last week, according to Balinese publication Coconuts. But workers in Bali have been suffering financial losses in the face of the coronavirus economic downturn since last month - before flight restrictions were implemented. Eerie photos of Ngurah Rai International Airport emerged on March 12 of the once-bustling international airport almost devoid of people. The photos were posted on social media by a local tour guide accompanied by the caption: 'Bali Airport today at 9.30am. Very Empty. Bali very sad and hard life.' Despite Balinese tourism officials claiming the island could be back open for business next month, travel bans for Australians are expected to extend to 2021. Federal Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham told ABC's News Breakfast last week: 'I wouldn't put any guarantees that you could undertake that overseas trip in December.' 'This is a time where, unfortunately, people can't undertake holidays and they won't be able to go overseas for quite some time to come.'