INTERNATIONAL: Indonesia's top holiday destination, Bali, reopened to foreign tourists on Thursday after 18 months of pandemic hiatus, but the island is lacking one crucial ingredient: international flights. As of Thursday, fully-vaccinated travellers from 19 countries including China, India and France can enter Bali, but visitors must first spend five days in hotel quarantine.

But according to flight monitoring site Flightradar24, there were no international flights scheduled to land at Bali's Ngurah Rai airport on Thursday or Friday.

Airport spokesperson, Taufan Yudhistira, says, “Until today, I Gusti Ngurah Rai Bali Airport still hasn't received any international flight slot requests, whether a flight to Bali or from Bali. But, instructions from the national Covid-19 task force said that Bali is now an entry point for international flights to Indonesia."