It's the weekend in Bali. My kids went to a Japanese remedial school, and I went to a parent gathering of Ubud. It seems that the tourist business is gone; some of the obvious short term tourist businesses are either closed or operating at a quarter of the price with special discounts.
On the other hand, the area where I live, in Canggu and Pererenan, is attracting more and more people. The cafes and restaurants are open, not for tourists, but for long-term residents, and the beaches are becoming more crowded.
Here is a video of Batu Bolong surfing on Saturday.
By the way, my sons are also glimpsed in the video. It's not empty anymore. I always wonder what those young foreigners in the video are doing, and here is a clip explaining what they are doing.
This video describes a resort in Thailand, but I think the situation is similar in Bali. The woman being interviewed earns $2000 a month from an online business and lives in a beachfront cottage for $280 a month. Another woman says she wants to go to Bali or Sydney when Corona is over. A man has said that Corona has made the remote working environment six to seven years faster in interviews.
But it won't stay that way forever. Digital work means that Western ex-pats can live and work in the developing world, but it also means that people in the developing world can become digital workers and offer their services to the developed world for less than digital nomads. 2000 dollars a month is enough to live on in Bali. But that's not a lot of money for the 40-something European in the video. Until this income is equal to what people in the developing world can earn by working remotely, this amount will go down. The question is what is the job you are not able to keep your income high and live where you would like to live. I have an idea and will write it on another day ;-)
Thailand is now offering visas for digital nomads, and there is a similar move in Indonesia. If you can prove that you have $100,000 in your bank account, you may get a 5-year visa to stay. However, by the time you renew this visa after 5 years, the situation will have changed, and this visa will no longer be necessary.
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