First flight of Chinese tourists lands in Bali following China's border reopening

Record ID: 1707650

  • Title: First flight of Chinese tourists lands in Bali following China's border reopening
  • Date: 22nd January 2023
  • Summary: DENPASAR, BALI, INDONESIA (JANUARY 22, 2023) (REUTERS) CHINESE TOURISTS WALKING PAST AT NGURAH RAI AIRPORT ARRIVAL AREA CHINESE TOURISTS WITH SUITCASES IN ARRIVAL AREA INDONESIANS HOLDING BANNER SAYING (MANDARIN): ‘BALI BLUE SKIES TRAVEL AGENCY WARMLY WELCOMES SUCCESSFUL SHENZHEN-BALI CHARTERED FLIGHT’ CHINESE TOURIST TAKING A PICTURE IN FRONT OF BANNER AIRPORT OFFICIALS GREETING CHINESE TOURISTS AND HANDING OUT FLOWER GARLANDS OFFICIAL PUTTING FLOWER GARLAND ON CHILD (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) CHINESE TOURIST, ZHOU JIA, SAYING: “I’m extremely happy. For the past three years, since 2019 when the coronavirus spread rapidly, we have finally re-open. So we immediately went overseas.” DIRECTIONAL SIGNS PEOPLE WALKING WITH SUITCASES CHINESE TOURISTS TAN JIAXI AND HIS FATHER WALKING AT ARRIVAL AREA SIGNAGE AT IMMIGRATION CHECKPOINT (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHINESE TOURIST, TAN JIAXI, SAYING: “I’m very very happy because for three years we can’t go outside. But now we can and the first stop in Asia I come, is Indonesia.” VARIOUS OF TAN, HIS FATHER, AND HIS MOTHER LI JIANGXIA QUEUEING IN IMMIGRATION (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) CHINESE TOURIST, LI JIANGXIA, SAYING: “The government has encouraged us to travel to Southeast Asian countries from 2023 onwards.” VARIOUS OF CHINESE TOURISTS AT BAGGAGE CLAIM BANNER IN ARRIVAL AREA VARIOUS OF CHINESE TOURISTS IN ARRIVAL AREA SKY / RESTAURANT ENTRANCE GATE VARIOUS OF ISTANA NAGA PURBA CHINESE RESTAURANT EXTERIOR RESTAURANT FRONT DESK (SOUNDBITE) (Bahasa Indonesia) OWNER OF ISTANA NAGA PURBA RESTAURANT, BABA SANDIKO GUNAWAN, SAYING: “We have refurnished a few interior decors to welcome the arrival of Chinese tourists. We’ve also prepared their favourite menu such as seafood and others. We have also re-employed Mandarin-speaking staff to ease communications with guests.” LANTERNS OUTSIDE OF RESTAURANT VARIOUS OF FOREIGN TOURISTS IN KUTA BEACH TOURIST LYING ON BEACH VARIOUS OF TOURISTS PLAYING IN THE WATER
  • Embargoed: 5th February 2023 11:09
  • Keywords: Bali China Indonesia borders open restrictions tourists travel
  • Location: BALI, INDONESIA
  • City: BALI, INDONESIA
  • Country: Indonesia
  • Topics: Asia / Pacific,Health/Medicine
  • Reuters ID: LVA001425022012023RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Indonesia welcomed its first flight of Chinese tourists to the resort island of Bali on Sunday (January 22), three years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and following the easing of strict border measures by the Chinese government to control COVID-19.
    For many of the Chinese tourists, this was their first time overseas after staying in the mainland for the past few years.
    “For three years, we can’t go outside. But now we can and the first stop in Asia I come, is Indonesia,” said 17-year-old Tan Jiaxi.
    His mother, Li Jiangxia, said she was “very emotional” about being able to travel abroad finally.
    “The government has encouraged us to travel to Southeast Asian countries from 2023 onwards,” she added.
    The arrival of Chinese tourists also signalled a new boom in business for tourism-related company owners such as Baba Sandiko Gunawan, who owns a Chinese Restaurant in Bali’s Denpasar area.
    “We have refurnished a few interior decors to welcome the arrival of Chinese tourists. We’ve also prepared their favourite menu such as seafood and others,” he said. “We have also re-employed Mandarin-speaking staff to ease communications with guests.”
    China is one of the biggest sources of tourists for Indonesia, especially for tourism-reliant destinations such as Bali.
    Nearly 2 million Chinese tourists visited Indonesia between January-November in 2019, statistics agency data showed, or around 13% of total tourist arrivals for that period.
    China's easing over the past month of one of the world's tightest COVID regimes followed historic protests against a policy that included frequent testing, curbs on movement and mass lockdowns that heavily damaged the world's second-biggest economy.
    (Production: Sultan Anshori, Zahra Matarani, Travis Teo)
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