Bali
Bali...where to begin! Bali has been accepting tourists unofficially by charging an extra 900,000iDR for a social visa landing in Jakarta and flying domestic flights to Bali as that’s always remained open. Many clients and friends have chosen this solution.
Bali’s President & Health Minister announced international boarders reopening on the 1st December 2020. There are recent rumours that this will be tiered into countries to begin with but nothing official on that yet, and in any case anyone can apply for a Social or Business Visa as above.
Bali itself is now getting busier and busier with those fleeing Europe’s COVID winter lockdown, or for longer as a total lifestyle change. Putting their children in school from Jan 2021 for the foreseeable has hugely helped the holiday rental villa side; which of course has been struggling and will be the last to recover as many will still need to quarantine when travelling. In response to this holiday rentals have tried to transform themselves into monthly or longer term rentals in order to tied themselves over.
Land and villa sales are happening with buyers frustrated and locked down in nearby cities such as HK, Singapore and Shanghai who are even more frustrated by low interest rates in the banks. So video walk throughs have proved enough for sales of about 30% of pre-Covid prices up to around 700k USD which is interesting. It comes as a retirement or escape plan for many, whilst knowing Bali will bounce back quickly and their investment will wash its face, if not make good business for rentals in the future.
Bali has little but tourism and the quicker it gets moving again the better for the locals and their businesses. The Balinese are resilient though and they do rally together to support and help one another which is a lesson to us all in these tough times. They are amongst the most grateful and most welcoming and will treat incoming tourists like royalty I am sure, when they begin to flock back.
A whisper from the Island of Gods from a dynamic & ambitious loved up duo…
Pete & Jo
“We have made a concerted effort over the past 2.5 years to shift our business online. We are therefore lucky enough to be able to pick up and travel when we felt the urge and the urge was strong when the second lockdown was announced! By then however we had our business visas already on order and brought our January flights forward to November.”
Their Bio:
Joanna is a Conscious Family Coach and Pete the Managing Director of Wight Wellness, a studio based in Seaview on the Isle of Wight that specialises in Yoga, Coaching and Retreats. Much of this can be done online so at the moment their studio is being used by friends as a retreat from their homes, and Pete & Jo continue coaching online with retreats due to start back up in April.
What was Pete & Joanna’s feeling on landing?
“Full of excitement and appreciation for the choice we made! We were also extremely impressed with how efficient the COVID restrictions were in the Airports”
Any comments on old Bali and new Bali as you new it?
“It’s like the Bali when Pete first arrived to work here in 2010. That said some areas are dead zones and some have a buzz – notably Seminyak is dead and Canggu has a vibe going. Of course, it’s helpful when Alicia at LL finds you a glorious villa to spend the winter in, to spend time with our young family and create some heart warming wellness content for folks back in the Northern Hemisphere where mental health has become such a hot topic. Thanks Alicia!”