TheJakartaPost
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Indonesian tourism booms, Australia misses out
Tourism Australia has established an office in Jakarta, highlighting the huge potential of the Indonesian tourism market.
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Relaxing: People enjoy their weekend at Burleigh Heads beach on the Gold Coast, Australia. (JP/Irawaty Wardany)
I
t didn’t even make the news in Australia, but two weeks ago India announced it will now allow Indonesian tourists to visit without having to apply or pay for a visa.
This development allows Indonesian nationals to choose India, in addition to all the ASEAN nations, as a holiday destination without the burden of a visa, and in doing so opens up the huge and growing online market in Indonesia for short-duration holiday travel. It was not that hard for New Delhi to work out the economic benefit of making India a more attractive destination to Indonesians, given Indonesia’s rapidly expanding middle class and 9.1 million citizens who travelled overseas last year.
Meanwhile, in Australia we have only recently decided to allow Indonesian citizens to apply for a visa online — something that nationals from Japan, Malaysia, and Singapore have been able to do for years — while retaining the expensive and non-refundable application fee of US$140.00 per family member. In the event the visa is rejected, the full amount can be forfeited.
This hard-line approach by our federal government comes at a time when Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is talking-up the importance of the bilateral relationship, including tourism and business, trade, policing and defense.
