Bali only received 45 international tourists in 2021 despite reopening

Destinations around the world have faced significant tourist reductions amid the coronavirus pandemic. But few have taken a harder hit than Bali, the Indonesian island long beloved of global travellers.

Due to strict border control measures and a closed airport, Bali went from receiving millions of international visitors to welcoming just 45 in 2021.

Compare that to about 6.2 million international arrivals in 2019 and 1.05 million in 2020.

"That is the lowest number of foreign tourist visits we've ever recorded," Nyoman Gede Gunadika, section head of tourism for Bali Province, told CNN.

The two-digit number accounts for the period between January and October 2021 and was confirmed by the Central Statistics Bureau of Bali.