Ministry: Visa-Free Visits Could Boost Foreign Tourist Arrivals

The Ministry of Tourism has stated that the Visa-Free Visit (BVK) policy is an important instrument for increasing Indonesia’s tourism competitiveness, with the potential to boost foreign tourist arrivals by up to 32.4 percent. In a press release received in Jakarta on Wednesday, the Ministry of Tourism explained that Indonesia had experience implementing a broad BVK policy in 2016 by granting visa-free facilities to 169 countries. Based on a study by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) together with Oxford Economics, the policy contributed to a 24 percent increase in foreign tourist demand and supported the creation of around 400,000 jobs. “These figures show that travel facilitation policies have a strong correlation with the growth of tourist visits,” the Ministry of Tourism stated. According to the ministry, BVK is not merely a visa policy, but part of efforts to strengthen accessibility, ease of travel, and Indonesia’s appeal as an international tourist destination. Besides impacting the increase in tourist visits, the visa-free policy also has the potential to boost tourist spending, create jobs, and strengthen the community economy. The WTTC study shows the median increase in tourist arrivals from visa-free policies reaches 16.6 percent per year, higher than new visa type policies which recorded an increase of 8.1 percent per year. Based on comparisons with ASEAN countries, the number of countries receiving visa-free facilities to Indonesia is currently still more limited compared to Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. The Ministry of Tourism emphasised that visa policy must still be formulated carefully by considering security aspects, reciprocity, and national interests, but Indonesia also needs to maintain its competitiveness as a global tourism destination. Therefore, the Ministry of Tourism hopes that cross-ministerial and institutional synergy can be strengthened to find the best formulation regarding the BVK policy that is able to safeguard national interests while increasing Indonesia’s tourism competitiveness.