'Controversial new visa policy will kill tourism'
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Nusa Dua
The new controversial visa policy will hurt the tourism industry as citizens of countries enjoying visa-on-arrival will have to obtain the facility for different destinations.
Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra said on Tuesday that visas-on-arrival would be valid only in the place of issuance and the surrounding areas. The facility could be applied for in all international airports and seaports
"Visitors will only be allowed to enter certain parts of the country where the visa-on-arrival is issued and will have to repeat the process if they visit other places here," Yusril told a media conference held to reveal details of the visa policy, which was adopted through a presidential decree on March 31.
The visa-on-arrival is not extendible and only valid for 30 days. A visitor may only reapply for the facility after they leave the country for two weeks, Yusril said.
The minister indicated the government expected to generate revenue from the charges.
"It's a big revenue source. Other countries generate revenue from it, so why don't we?" he said, saying the government would use the money to promote domestic tourism abroad as well as to improve immigration services.
Yusril said a visitor may be charged between US$40 and US$45 for a visa-on-arrival.
Visa-on-arrival facilities will be awarded to some of the 38 foreign countries currently scrapped from the list of visa-free for short visit recipients and those who contribute much to Indonesia's tourist industry.
The presidential decree on the new visa policy maintains Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Macao, Chile, Morocco, Turkey and Peru based on a reciprocity basis.
Yusril said people of countries that had lost the visa-free privilege would either have to apply for one at an Indonesian embassy or buy one upon arrival.
The new visa policy, he said, emulates the immigration regulations imposed by the Hong Kong administration for "internal security considerations".
"We have found some foreign activists who support separatist movements here used visa-free entry for short visits here," Yusril said.
Yusril was referring to two foreign women who recently stood trial for visa offenses in the war-torn province of Aceh. They were jailed and deported after they were found guilty.
The government, he said, is currently formulating guidelines to implement the presidential decree that revokes the visa-free entry for short visits for citizens from 38 countries.
"We will apply the decree as soon as we complete the guidelines, which must be discussed with other cabinet members beforehand," Yusril said.
It remains unclear how soon the new ruling will take effect, although the presidential decree clearly stipulates the policy came into effect when it was signed.
In the absence of the guidelines, the government still imposes the old policy, permitting tourists from 49 countries to visit for an extendible period of up to 60 days without a visa.
Separately, several tourism associations voiced strong opposition to the implementation of the decree, and demanded its immediate retraction or postponement.
They said that those countries were never viewed as prime tourism markets by the Indonesian tourism industry.
"We have formed a lobby group tasked with persuading and convincing the House of the Representatives and the central government to revise, postpone, or if possible revoke the decree altogether," Bali's Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) chairman I Gde Wiratha said on Tuesday.
Wiratha is attending a three-day informal coordination meeting on the decree. Representatives from at least 11 associations participated, including PHRI, the Association of Indonesian Travel Agents (ASITA), the Association of Water Sports Operators (Gahawisri), the Tourism Society of Indonesia (MPI) and the Society of Indonesian Professional Convention Organizers (SIPCO).
Wiratha said the policy would hamper the country's tourism industry as it was implemented at an inappropriate time, referring to the fact that the industry was still reeling from the impact of the terrorist attacks in the U.S. and Bali, the war in Iraq and the spread of SARS.
However, an expert on tourism economics, Nyoman Erawan, said it would not result in a significant drop in the number of foreign tourists as the current market was different than the market in the 1980s, when the visa-free system was introduced.
"Now we are dealing with the market that is basically very quality-oriented and definitely well-informed on the condition of any destination. In this case, the quality of services provided by the destination will play a more important role in securing the market than the visa-free entry privilege," he said.