New visa hurts RI's tourism
New visa hurts RI's tourism
Maybe we should thank Julia Sitorus for contributing her
arguments in favor of stricter visa policies (The Jakarta Post,
May 19). Her arguments contain so many errors and factual
fallacies that I wonder if the piece was not intended to be
satire?
Specifically, her claim that "Data compiled by immigration
reveals that most visa-free entries were abused by foreigners",
means that more than half of Indonesia's five million tourists
are not visiting as tourists but for work or business? I submit
that Indonesia's immigration office possesses no such data at
all. It is more likely that 99 percent of all tourist arrivals in
Indonesia are fully bona fide.
Sitorus then goes on to contend that most tourists from China
"turned out to be smugglers of merchandise from the Chinese
mainland". From my own observations of those polite and well
behaved Chinese tour groups waiting patiently in Indonesian
immigration queues, I suggest that this contention is quite
absurd.
The visa debate also treats the long staying tourist badly.
She says that: because most tourists stay an average of only 14
days "there is potential for abusing the visa among those who
stay for the remaining 46 days". This contention ignores the
major contribution made to Indonesia by the humble backpacker.
On the contrary, the great beach resorts of Southeast Asia
were built on the backpacker's patronage. Specifically, Kuta
Beach, Koh Samui and Goa all started back in the 1960s and 1970s
as places with simple beach huts and palm thatched shacks where
local families served young Westerners tasty food and simple
accommodation for budget prices.
Ironically, some 20 years ago, Australia made a study of
Indonesia's vibrant backpacker market and built a whole industry
on it.
Indonesia's best tourism customer is now Indonesia's strongest
tourism competitor, as Australia now earns more tourist dollars
from the budget backpacker than Indonesia does itself.
Sitorus wrongly states that the free-visa policy has been in
effect for 10 years. It has, in fact, been in effect for more
like 20 years. The free-visa policy was a landmark for Indonesian
tourism, making this great archipelago accessible to a new kind
of less adventurous tourist, which helped turn those crude
thatched beach huts into grand resorts.
See now a generation on: those local Kuta families now own
five-star hotels and restaurants. And those same US$1/day
backpackers are back with wives, children and grandchildren in
tow, with a family budget more like $500/day.
EVAN WILLIS, Sydney, Australia