REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The Indonesian government is confident that its program to provide visa-free facility to 45 countries will not face technical problems, according to a minister.

"There is no technical difficulty. After all, the visa-free program has been carried out with 15 countries, particularly with nine ASEAN members. It has been smooth so far," Tourism Minister Arief Yahya noted here on Tuesday, March 17.

The minister stated that the visa-free policy will be applicable to 45 countries, of which 15 are old visa-free recipients, and 30 others are being proposed to get the facility. He hoped that the technical implementation of the policy will be discussed soon, so that the visa-free program for 30 other countries can be implemented this year.

Indonesia will soon implement the visa-free policy for 45 countries in various continents, he noted. This policy is one of the programs designed as part of the government's first phase of the economic structural reform policy package.

Earlier, the minister had proposed a visa-free policy for four tourism markets: China, Japan, South Korea, and Russia. Later, the number was increased to 30 countries, so that the total number reached 45 as previously, there were 15 old recipients.

"We consider the benefit in granting the facility as an effort to increase the number of foreign tourist arrivals. The easy way to increase tourist visits is to provide free visas," the minister emphasized.

He remarked that almost all American and European countries are included in the list of 30 countries to be granted visa-free facility.

The minister noted that besides targeting to increase the foreign tourist arrivals to 10 million in 2015, the policy also aims to boost the country's foreign exchange reserves as part of an endeavor to improve the performance of the country's service balance. "This can increase revenues by 15 percent as compared to the previous income. With the free visa policy, additional foreign tourist arrivals could reach 750 thousand, which could provide an additional income of about 1 billion USD," Minister Arief noted.

Indonesia has previously provided free visa for Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, the Philippines, Hong Kong Special Administration Region (Hong Kong SAR), Macau Special Administration Region (Macau SAR), Chile, Morocco, Peru, Vietnam, Ecuador, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar.

The policy is part of the government's economic policy package aimed at improving the trade balance and service balance, which have so far contributed significantly to the current account transaction deficit. The current transaction deficit is an internal problem that the government needs to tackle as it also has a negative impact on the local rupiah currency. This necessitates the government to initiate efforts to preserve its economic fundamentals in the face of global economic pressures.

Ikuti Whatsapp Channel Republika