As the Group of 20 Summit draws near, locals and tourists talk about what makes Bali even more special in 2022.

How one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the world pulled through after years of being devoid of its biggest income producer—the tourists themselves—is miraculous, but that is what Bali did.

“The last two years have been…,” Bali resident Velina Sita Devani said on Oct. 14, pausing to find the right words before her sentence trailed off.

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A lifelong Denpasar resident, Velina said seeing her hometown empty of tourists and with residents under mobility constraints in early 2020 was nothing short of devastating.

“At the start of the pandemic, it was like every person disappeared off Bali. It was so deserted when I came back home from Bandung [in 2020],” she said.

The recent months have been a relief. Bali has been bustling with tourists and locals less afraid to gather in crowds as the COVID-19 pandemic abates.

“As time went by, we started to see Bali recovering. Bali was full of people from Jakarta and Surabaya this April or May. Later, foreign tourists also filled up the space when there were finally fewer complicated restrictions to come here,” the 23-year-old said.

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