VISITORS FLOCK TO BALI, EXCEPT FOR THE CHINESE
Hotels on the Indonesian holiday island are booked out at Christmas and new year, prices are rising and new staff are proving difficult to find
Tourism in Bali has roared back to life, with the Indonesian island topping Airbnb’s list of the world’s most popular holiday destinations and many hotels there already fully booked for the end-of-year holiday period.
Released in November, Airbnb’s Winter Release Highlights shows that Kuta, a beachside district 10 minutes’ drive from Bali’s international airport, which resembled a ghost town during the pandemic, was the No 1 trending destination for searches worldwide on Airbnb between July and October.
The Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur was the second most searched destination, followed by Itapema, a city in Brazil’s south. Of the 10 most searched destinations, five are in Southeast Asia, two in Australia and only one – Malaga, in Spain – is in the northern hemisphere, where it is winter.
Made, an Airbnb host who manages a three-bedroom villa in Cemagi, a semi-rural beachside district nearly 20km northwest of Bali’s airport, has been overwhelmed by inquiries on Airbnb.
“Normally this villa costs 2 million rupiah (HK$1,004) per night. But with so many people asking about it, we increased it to 3 million and then increased it again to 5 million per night just to see how high we could go. It was booked a few days later by a family from Jakarta,” Made says, adding: “I should have made the price even higher.”
He may be right. Villas at the ultra-luxury Four Seasons resort at Jimbaran Bay, 15 minutes south of the airport, are US$3,300 per night during the festive period – more than 10 times Made’s asking price. Nevertheless, most of the Four Seasons villas are already booked out between Christmas and new year, according to sales director Mathilde Adam.
In Kuta, Joel Bartlett, general manager of Manaka by Ovolo, a four-star hotel on Kuta beach, says 98 per cent of rooms are already booked for the holiday period. “We will be fully booked as we approach the dates,” he says.
In the luxury hotel enclave of Nusa Dua in Bali’s southeast, where the G20 summit of leading developed economies was held in November, the Sofitel Nusa Dua Bali Resort is also approaching full capacity. “We are on average 80 per cent already booked for the end-of-year holiday period,” a spokesman says.
“We expect to be fully booked out by mid-December.”
On Nusa Lembongan, an island off Bali’s south coast with white sand and turquoise water that was abandoned by tourists during the pandemic, the economic recovery is in full swing.
“When we arrived back after more than two years in Australia, the vast majority of restaurants and hotels were still closed up, though a few restaurants opened one or two nights a week,” says Mitch Ansiewich of Ohana’s, a beach club, restaurant and boutique resort.
“We had braced ourselves for another year of treading water with low expectations for 2022. But the market came back a lot faster than expected,” Ansiewich says, “and we’ve basically been booked out since July.
“We’re already 90 per cent booked for the traditional festive bump and 2023 bookings are looking very strong until April.”
These numbers will be music to the ears of the 4.3 million people of Bali, 41 per cent of whom were left underemployed or unemployed during the pandemic, according to Statista, a German-based research firm.
The tables have turned. Made in Cemagi had to advertise five times over two months until he found a new gardener after the last one left. His experience is not unique.
“You advertise, you offer the job, but they don’t show up because a lot of quality staff left Bali before it reopened to work on cruise liners,” says Kit Cahill, manager of Bubble Hotel Bali.
“We also have a shortage of chefs.”
Tourism in Bali has a long history of bouncing back from disasters. But the speed and scale of the post-pandemic correction have taken many by surprise.
The International Air Transport Association, a trade association of the world’s airlines, had projected that travel in the South Pacific would not return to pre-pandemic levels until 2025. The most recent arrival figures released by Bali airport suggest the prediction is on the ball.
More than 291,000 international tourists disembarked at Bali airport in September – around 20 times more than the number who visited in March but less than half the number that visited in September 2019.
The gaping hole is mostly attributed to the absence of visitors from China, the second-largest source country of international tourists in Bali before the pandemic, after Australia, from where 86,057 visitors arrived in September.
The next biggest markets are India (22,964), Britain (18,320), Germany (16,537) and the US (14,313).
When the Chinese return to Bali, the island could find itself without enough rooms during end-of-year holiday periods in years to come – and see room rates shoot through the roof.
How that will pan out for a holiday destination that is regarded as relatively cheap and competes with Thailand remains to be seen.
A lot of quality staff left Bali before it reopened to work on cruise liners
KIT CAHILL,
MANAGER OF BUBBLE HOTEL BALI