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JAKARTA – The Indonesian province closest to Singapore, the Riau Islands, including Batam and Bintan, is the area most ready to reopen to tourists from neighboring countries as coronavirus infections have decreased and stabilized, said the minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Sandiaga Uno.
The plan is to start reopening tourist spots in Nongsa (Batam) and Lagoi (Bintan) on April 21, ahead of the country’s main tourist spot, Bali, which is expected to reopen only in June or July, the minister said. after a meeting with Batam. officials on Saturday (March 20).
“Batam and Bintan are much more prepared,” he said.
The reopening of the Riau Islands would pave the way for Indonesia to have a possible “safe travel corridor” with Singapore, Uno stressed.
Citing the directive of President Joko Widodo, Uno said that international borders across the archipelago can be gradually reopened, taking into account how effective efforts have been to curb the spread of Covid-19 in the various regions.
Indonesia has several entry points through which foreign travelers can enter, such as Batam, which had regular ferry connections to Singapore, Bali which had direct flights to several countries, and Manado in North Sumatra, connected by air with China.
Direct routes connect Singapore with Nongsapura in Batam and with the Bandar Bintan Telani ferry terminal in Bintan.
“The number of Covid-19 infections in the Riau Islands province has flattened and stabilized, and in the two tourist spots Nongsa and Lagoi, there have been no new infections,” Uno said.
“Our hope is that we can continue to keep it under and under control (there).”
Any foreign tourist entering Indonesia through the province will have to show a negative PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test result and will be screened upon arrival using GeNose, a Covid-19 breath testing system.
Information technology will also be used to track and trace the movement of tourists, Uno added.
As part of the preparation for the possible safe travel corridor with Singapore, the Indonesian government has increased vaccination in Batam and Bintan, aiming to have a total of 30,000 vaccinated tourism workers by April.
On Saturday, 1,500 tourism workers in Batam and 2,000 in Bintan received Covid-19 vaccine injections.
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