Indonesia is ready to extend the visa on arrival facility to 11 more countries, although the final decision is yet to be made, a senior official at the Foreign Ministry said Friday.
"We are ready to extend the facility to these 11 countries, but we had to postpone the final decision because there are some reciprocal problems with at least two countries," the ministry's director for consular affairs Indra Kesuma Oesman told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
The 11 countries likely to receive visa on arrival facilities are Algeria, the Czech Republic, Fiji, Latvia, Libya, Lithuania, Panama, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Tunisia.
Indra declined to identify the two countries that were delaying the move and emphasized that no concrete decision had been made on any of the 11 countries.
On Friday, Investor Daily Indonesia reported that the government had decided to grant the VOA to 11 countries.
"It agreed on the 11 countries at the special coordinating meeting on political and justice matters on March 15, 2007, in Jakarta. But the ministerial decree has not yet been issued," director general of marketing at the Tourism and Culture Ministry Bhiwana Bachri told the Investor Daily on Wednesday in Jakarta.
Meanwhile, several foreign envoys welcomed reports of Indonesia's decision to extend the visa on arrival facility, which is currently available to the citizens of 52 countries.
Slovakian Ambassador to Indonesia Peter Holasek hailed the news.
"If it's true, it will certainly boost Indonesia's tourism industry. We are very happy about this," Ambassador Holasek told the Post on Friday.
The Panamanian Ambassador also welcomed Indonesia's decision.
"It's positive news. But I have yet to receive full details on this," Ambassador Raul Antonio Eskildsen Arias said.
Late last year, the Tourism and Culture Ministry recommended to the Justice and Human Rights Ministry that the visa on arrival be extended to 19 more countries.
The 19 countries were Algeria, Bahamas, Fiji, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Latvia, Lebanon, Libya, Paraguay, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Syria, Turkey, Uruguay, Jordan, Venezuela and Tuvalu.
There has been no word on whether the eight countries not named on the new list will be granted the facility.
The main purpose of the extension is to boost tourist arrival numbers, which dropped by 2.61 percent to 4.87 million in 2006 from 5 million in 2005.
The extension of the facility to 11 new countries is expected to raise tourist numbers to 6 million in 2007.
The visa on arrival was first introduced on Feb. 21, 2004. Under the system, tourists from selected countries do not have to apply out of the country for visas but can instead purchase them on arrival at Indonesia's international airports and seaports. A seven-day visa costs US$10, while a 30-day visa costs $25.
Indonesia's tourist numbers have been down in recent years, due in part to a limited tourism promotion budget, $6 million for 2007. In 2006, the tourism industry generated $4.4 billion from 4.87 million foreign tourists.
"Ideally, the budget for tourism promotion should be around 1 to 2 percent of the total income from the sector," Indonesian Tourism Council secretary general Iqbal Allan said last month in Jakarta.
source: www.thejakartapost.com
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