An official from the Bali Tourism Board has suggested that the government expand the visa-on-arrival program to 18 more countries to boost tourism in Bali.

The head of the Bali Tourism Board, Tjok Bagus Pemayun, confirmed that his party had proposed that the central government take over the VoA program in 18 additional countries, namely: China, India, Switzerland, Spain, Taiwan, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Poland, Chile, Morocco. , Tunisia, Hong Kong, Denmark, Belgium, Hungary, Russia and Ukraine.

He believes it will help revive Bali's tourism sector, which has been hit hard by the pandemic.

The addition of these countries was carried out after reviewing which countries had a significant impact on Bali's economy prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.

"China and India are among the countries chosen because many visitors to Bali came from there before the pandemic hit," said Pemayun, Tuesday (15/3). However, Pemayun admitted that he did not try to impose his proposal, considering that India and China had been the epicenters of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"We just submitted a proposal, but I think the officials of the national Covid-19 task force have their own assessment of the current situation," concluded Pemayun.

As previously reported by The Bali Sun, the central government has restarted the visa-on-arrival program in 28 selected countries. They also ditched the quarantine policy as part of their efforts to revive Bali's tourism sector.