Coincidentally a couple of days ago I received the following e-mail from a dive operator on Bunaken.
I am posting this for people to get an idea of how things are over there.
(I have removed the name of the operator as I am not sure they would like it to get public).
It has now been a year since our last guests left Bunaken Island.
Covid-19 brought international tourism to a halt. In a country like
Indonesia we were prepared for many disasters, but we could never have
imagined anything like this. We closed our doors on March 16, 2020 and
we have no income since then.
The first few months were fine. Being forced to stay home in a place
like this is not a punishment. It felt a bit like a vacation. Although
we launched a brand new dive boat in January 2020, we were confident
we still had enough savings to be able to make it through this crisis.
Most resorts on the island immediately put their staff on hold
(without pay). We did not think that was an option, so we let our
staff continue working for heavily reduced hours and a halved salary.
We expected that we would be able to reopen in October. But nothing
could be further from the truth.
With still no end in sight, we started to get a little nervous about
our rapidly dwindling savings. In order to safeguard the future of
XXXXXXXX, we finally had to decide with pain in our hearts to give
all staff unpaid leave as of January 1, 2021.
Since almost everyone on Bunaken is dependent on tourism in one way or
another, there is now very little money on the island. There is plenty
of food. Everyone is fishing and growing cassava, rice, peppers,
bananas and corn. But if you have a child in high school or college in
Manado, or if a family member ends up in the hospital, bills have to
be paid. Families who have bought essential items on loan are now
struggling with payments and debts. There is an extensive trade in
second-hand goods to get some money. People also withdraw their
pension money en masse, which will again cause financial problems in
the long term. The government hardly helps. There is little concern
here about getting ill from corona, but the economic consequences of
this crisis are enormous.
We are doing well and we are confident that once this is over,
travelers will be able to find us again. We hope that we may be able
reopen this fall, although we hear now that it may be April 2022
before Indonesia will open the borders for international travelers.
Until then, we are concerned about our staff. They have to support
their families and some of them have children in college. They don't
complain, but we know they are having a hard time. We find it very sad
that we are no longer able to pay them a (reduced) monthly salary.
We therefore feel compelled to ask for your help. We hope that you -
along with our other former guests - have the opportunity to keep
these Indonesian families going with a donation. Any amount is
welcome. If you stay with us again in the future, we will be happy to
deduct half of the amount you donated from your bill. And if your
future trips go somewhere else and you miss out on this offer, we hope
you have such good memories of your stay with us that you will still
want to help.
We thank you in advance for your support. Let's hope we all will be
able to travel again soon.
With best regards,