Budget tourism and visa policy

Budget tourism and visa policy

Fear that the new, Indonesian visa policy will kill budget
tourism is absolutely right. And why is budget tourism not
encouraged by the national government? Could it be that the
political elite are unaware of the millions who live off budget
tourism or is it that budget tourists put little cash in the
pockets of the powers that be?

Budget tourists are the overwhelming majority of tourists to
Indonesia. They spend less per day, but often stay longer. Many
of them buy items to resell. In this way they do spend as much as
wealthy, short-term tourists.

Take Kuta Beach for example -- with all of its growing pains
and tragedies. Kuta is a middle-class area in a poverty-stricken
country. This should be highly valued; that is, if the people are
valued. Kuta grandfathers may have been fishermen or sold
firewood collected on the beach, but their grandsons and
granddaughters go to university, all due to budget tourism and
manufacturing for small businesses.

Business visas have been, for many years, difficult and
frustrating to obtain. Many small businesspeople have therefore
relied on the automatic, two-month tourist visa rather than go
through the hassle of obtaining a business visa.

If all of the goods sold to small businesspeople were lumped
together, it would be a staggering amount. Although these goods
are sold mainly in Bali, they are manufactured all over
Indonesia, thus putting food in the mouths of many Indonesian
families. There should be a way of simplifying the business visa
process, to charge these people a fee for a two-month visa as
they enter Indonesia. That way, Indonesia would keep the business
that it would otherwise lose.

We, the people living off tourism in Bali, have, sadly,
struggled for the last five years, culminating in the bombing
last October, and are now having to deal with the reaction of
tourists to SARS. Our tourists are holidaying in Thailand,
Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia and Laos.

We wish to entice them back; however, the new visa policy is a
true kick in the teeth at a time when we are struggling to
survive.

JEAN MURNIATI, Kuta, Bali