New visa policy damaging, says tourist industry
New visa policy damaging, says tourist industry
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The president of a prominent tourist industry association
criticized the government's new policy that abolished the 60-day
visa-on-arrival granted to nationals from 48 foreign countries,
saying the move would hurt the already struggling industry.
"We are disappointed with the policy. I don't understand why
the government is imposing it now, while we have to struggle with
an already unfavorable tourism climate," Meity Robot, president
of the central board of the Indonesian Tour and Travel Agencies
Association (ASITA), told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
She said that most of her colleagues in tourist industry were
desperately fighting the gloomy conditions following travel
advisories in the wake of the Oct. 12, 2002 Bali terror attacks,
the current United States-led invasion of Iraq and the Severe
Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) threat.
Meity called the issuance of the policy an ill-timed decision,
saying that the country was not ready to face the consequences.
"Why didn't they give us some more time to prepare for the
regulation with all the immigration employees?" she said, while
adding that several gateways in the country had yet to impose the
policy.
Meity said that the policy would adversely affect the
country's tourism industry, although the impact could only be
seen at the end of the year.
She said that the ministry of tourism had invited tourist
industry officials for a briefing on the policy on Thursday.
Yanti Sukamdani, president of the central board of the
Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI), also deplored
the policy, but said she would comment on the issue after the
meeting.
Separately, Myra P. Gunawan, deputy chairperson of the tourism
and cultural development board for human resources and promotion,
also said that the policy would hurt the country's tourism
industry.
"But the affects won't really be felt for another six months.
It will not create problems if the immigration office is ready,"
she said.
On March 31, President Megawati Soekarnoputri signed the
decree, permitting 30-day visas-on-arrival for the nationals from
11 of the 48 countries that can receive tourist visas.
The 60-day visa-on-arrival policy, first introduced in 1983,
was meant to lure more foreign tourists to the country. Under the
scheme, foreign tourists do not have to pay anything or go to an
embassy to get a visa.
Tourism experts have warned that the new regulation would
significantly reduce the number of foreign tourists coming to the
country, forcing many travel agencies to shut down and causing
the country to lose a huge amount of foreign exchange revenue.