DENPASAR (THE JAKARTA POST/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – Bali is prepared to welcome back foreign visitors on Sept 11 after months of a travel ban imposed amid the coronavirus outbreak, which severely impacted its tourism industry.

Bali Governor Wayan Koster said activities on the popular resort island will resume but gradually and in three steps to comply with “new normal” policies.

The island will reopen to local tourists beginning on Thursday (July 9).

“To that end, we must surrender ourselves and pray so that we will be graced (with good fortune),” he said after participating in a local religious ceremony on Sunday, as quoted by tribunnews.com.

Mr Koster earlier said that he had closed tourist destinations in Bali until further notice but several regions are still allowed to keep popular beaches such as Canggu Beach and Labuan Sait Beach in Badung regency open to foreign surfers.

Tourism in Bali has been hit especially hard by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The number of foreign tourist arrivals fell to nearly zero in the weeks following the first reported coronavirus cases in the country.

Bali has reported 1,849 coronavirus infections and 20 deaths so far, while Indonesia as a whole has recorded 64,958 cases and 3,241 deaths since early March.

Credits to StraitsTimes.com