In pics | Bali welcomes Chinese tourists after three years of Covid hiatus

Indonesia's Bali has finally opened its borders to Chinese tourists after three years of COVID-19 hiatus. Chinese tourists have faced three years of travel restrictions and lockdowns as a result of Beijing's relentless enforcement of its "zero-Covid" policy, followed by an abrupt reopening and a spike in infections. Finally, governments on both ends have opened their borders to tourists. 

Take a look. 

The tourist island of Bali in Indonesia has seen a surge in Chinese visitors since the reopening of the country's borders.

The tourism minister for Indonesia stated that the country was striving for a significant recovery from the Covid-induced downtrend and predicted that 253,000 Chinese tourists would visit this year.

Officials in Bali are even more upbeat, anticipating the return of two-thirds of the 1.2 million Chinese tourists who visited the island prior to the pandemic and were the second-largest group of visitors after Australians.

The Indonesian government said that four other airlines have filed to fly frequently to Bali from China, despite the fact that just a few hundred Chinese tourists have so far come on a once-weekly trip from Shenzhen.

The tourism minister stated that the Indonesian government also intends to increase its promotion of Bali as a vacation spot in paradise.

While Indonesia has avoided adopting any targeted measures in addition to the mandated COVID-19 immunisation for all tourists, the US, Italy, South Korea, and Japan have restricted travel from mainland China due to infection fears.