In October with the addition of 47 more countries, tourists and other travelers from 92 countries would no longer need visa for short term visit to Indonesia.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Rizal Ramli said visitors for 47 more countries will be offered visa free travel to Indonesia in October.

Rizal Ramli said the offer is made effective in October to coincide with the year end holidays.

"Originally it was proposed to be made effective in January next year but we dont want to wait too long. In addition we want to take advantage of the year end tourist season," he said here on Tuesday.

In April this year , the government added 30 countries to increase the number to 45 countries from which short term travelers do not need visa.

In October with the addition of 47 more countries, tourists and other travelers from 92 countries would no longer need visa for short term visit to Indonesia.

Rizal Ramli , therefore, called for technical preparation before implementing the policy.

He said the visa free travel is the most effective way of drawing more visitors to the country.

The government set a target to chalk up 20 million foreign tourists to visit the country in 2019.

He said implementation of the earlier policy in April resulted in 15 percent in the number of foreign visitors to the country as against the average increase of 4 percent.

Indonesia recorded 9 million foreign tourist arrivals in 2014, rising from 8.8 million visitors in 2013.

The policy is also expected to open more jobs in the tourism sector to 7 million from only 3 million at present, the minister said.

In addition earning from the tourism sector is expected to rise to U.S.$20 billion a year from normally U.S.$10 billion.

Malaysia offers visa-free travel to 164 countries and Thailand offers it to 56 countries.

Both Malaysia and Thailand attract far more tourists than Indonesia each year. Thailand recorded 26 million and Malaysia recorded 27 million foreign tourist arrivals last year

Earlier Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said the government was hoping that an estimated 10 million foreign tourists would spend at least $1 billion this year.

"By waiving visa requirements, we can attract more tourists than Thailand or Malaysia in two years,� Arief said.

Visa-free travel will only be available through five international airports in Jakarta, Medan, Batam, Bali and Surabaya.

Law and Human Right Minister Yasona Laoly said monitoring at airport.

Foreign tourists found smuggling illegal goods, such as drugs, would face serious penalties, the Justice Minister said.

Citizens from the ten member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as well as Hong Kong, Macau, Ecuador, Chile and Peru were already exempted from the visa requirement last year.

The countries that joined this list in April included China, Japan, South Korea, United States, Canada, New Zealand, Mexico, Russia, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait and South Africa.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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