Bali, one of the world’s most popular islands. With affordable and breathtaking stays, to the amazing hospitality, Bali is one of the destinations that leaves you wanting to return over and over again.
Since the pandemic, Bali (like many other places) closed its borders. As the industry is heavily affected by the severe drop in tourists, hotels are racing to win people back and to recoup their losses.
It’s reported that Bali will be reopening their tourism sector next month (July) for locals first, and foreign travellers may look forward to return possibly by September or October.
To entice the locals to visit them, hotels have slashed their prices by over 80%!
A quick browse at hotel booking sites reveal that some hotels decided to lower their prices tremendously.
Here’s a quick breakdown:
- Homestays or hostels go as low as RM13/night
- 1-star and 2-star rated hotels go as low as RM38/night
- 3-star rated hotels go about RM50-75/night
- 4-star rated hotels go about RM120-250/night
- 5-star rated hotels go about RM400-700/night
Keep in mind that some of these 5-star hotels are luxurious and cost about RM1,900 a night previously.
As we all know, Bali hotels are breathtaking, so these prices only creates more wanderlust for us.
It’s fair to note that while scouring through hotel booking sites, there are some places which still retained their normal rates.
Steep drop in tourism this 2020
It is understandable why many of the hotels resort to such drastic measures.
Bali is very dependent on tourism and in 2019 alone, there are over 6.3 million people who visited the island.
Currently, all foreign travellers besides diplomats, permanent residents, and humanitarian workers are not allowed. So far, there’s no news on when their ban will be lifted. However, the industry aims to welcome back tourists in September or October if their infection rate maintains at a low rate.
Hence, they’ll have to rely on their domestic travel to rake in some profits.
Bali hotel prices might increase in the future
I Made Ramia Adnyana, a deputy chairman of the Bali Hotel General Managers Association (IHGMA), said that a ‘new normal’ will be embraced in terms of procedure.
This includes arrival at the airport, the immigration process, and check-ins at hotels for instance. This is to ensure the health of travellers are taken care of.
However, with these quality standards, he mentioned that it may increase the operational cost, hence causing hotel room prices to go up as well once it’s implemented.
Well, we can only hope that the pandemic doesn’t cause a big change to our future international travels!
Also read: Bali Says Begpackers Who Are Caught Will Now Be Sent Back to Their Embassies
