Bali tourism industry lost $7.3 billion due to COVID-19, a study found

Bali is a posterchild of Indonesian tourism industry. However, the COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted Bali’s tourism industry as it see a sharp decline in number of international tourists and revenues. For almost a year now, local businesses on the island of Bali are struggling to survive due to the sharp drop of international arrivals.

A recent study by a team of researchers from the Binjiang College of Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, China, has quantified the losses incurred by the Bali’s tourism industry. The study found Bali lost at least $7.3 Billion loss amid the Coronavirus-induced travel restrictions. The estimate is based on losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic’s direct impact on tourism, and is worse than previously expected. The study has been published in the peer-reviewed International Journal of Grey Systems.

The study used a Grey Forecasting model to forecast the number of tourists to Bali with 95% accuracy, and the approximate financial loss incurred from the pandemic in 2020 was quantified. These objectives were achieved through the data collected from the Bali statistical agency and analyzed through the grey model and some mathematical computations. The results indicated that the pandemic’s impact on inbound tourism was severe, and the economy needs some time to recover.

Their model revealed that Bali was expecting 7.2 million tourists in 2020 but due to the pandemic only received 1.07 million visitors. The study reported a loss of $7,304,598,788 to Bali due to the COVID-19 outbreak. It is the first study of its kind, and the findings are important for the policy-makers, and the businesses associated with the tourism.

The Indonesian government is speeding up vaccination efforts in Bali in hopes of achieving herd immunity quicker and reopen the island’s borders to international travellers under a free Covid-19 travel corridor by mid-year.