The wildly popular holiday island of Bali had just 45 international tourists in 2021

• Just 45 tourists visited the Indonesian island of Bali in the first 10 months of 2021, CNN reported.
• The island welcomed six million tourists in 2019, and managed one million in 2020 before the pandemic.

The popular holiday island of Bali received a record low number of international tourists in 2021, Indonesian authorities have said.

Just 45 people visited Bali between January and October 2021, according to data published by CNN, and confirmed by the Central Statistics Bureau of Bali.

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

Bali first shuttered to international tourists in March 2020, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and only reopened in October.

The number of visitors this year is staggering drop from the island's usual footfall.

In 2019, over six million international tourists visited Bali and, in 2020, when most of the year was dominated by the pandemic, the island still welcomed one million tourists.

Bali is almost totally reliant on tourism, with the industry making up around 80% of the economy. Even so, Indonesia has made it extremely hard for tourists to visit.

Tourists visas, which were free of charge, aren't being made available, so visitors must pay $295 for an basic e-visa.

New arrivals must also take multiple PCR tests, buy health insurance, and quarantine in a hotel for 10 days. The Bali tourist board warns potential visitor that this can add $1,000 to the cost of a trip.

One of the big factors which has traditionally drawn tourists to the island is its relatively low cost, so the new charges are likely a major sticking point.

When the pandemic hit, a number of tourists were already in Bali, and tensions soon ran high between visitors and locals, with many visitors seemingly refusing to follow the rules.

Indonesia is now planning to spend around $275 million on 108 new infrastructure projects this year to mint a series of "new Balis," as Insider's Lina Batarags previously reported.