TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Tourism Ministry will soon evaluate the free-visa policy implemented over the last year. Tourism Minister Arief Yahya expects that the evaluation will be conducted in April.
"The evaluation is expected to be commenced in April, which is a year after the implementation [of the free-visa policy]," Arief said at the Presidential Palace on Friday, January 13, 2017.
The government has given free visas to citizens from 169 countries under Government Regulation No. 21/2016 signed by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo last year. Earlier, the free-visa policy was provided to citizens from 90 countries.
Arief claimed that the number of foreign tourist visits has increased by 18.87 percent since the free-visa policy was implemented. Therefore, Arief predicted that the free-visa policy could be maintained.
"We must look to the future. Singapore and Malaysia give free visa to 150 countries. Imagine a cellphone, a free visa is the SIM card. The easier it is to get a SIM card, the more people will buy phone credits. So, it is reasonable if Malaysia and Singapore can attract 25 million and 15 million foreign tourists, respectively," Arief said on Friday, January 13, 2017.
Earlier, Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said that the free-visa policy for the tourism sector should be evaluated if it did not provide a significant contribution.
In addition, Luhut asserted that the free-visa policy must be revoked if foreign citizens committed violations in Indonesia.
"We will evaluate the free-visa policy implemented for the tourism sector. If the number [of foreign tourist visits is not significant or if it potentially increases the number of violations in Indonesia, there’s no reason to maintain it," Luhut said at the Bogor Presidential Palace on Wednesday, January 4, 2017.
Luhut added that to this date, the number of foreign tourists utilizing the free-visa policy to stay for an extensive amount of time or to look for jobs in Indonesia remains low.
ISTMAN MP|ANTARA
