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Considering digital nomad visas to attract foreign tourists
Granting digital nomad visas will benefit both tourists and Indonesia, but needs appropriate infrastructure facilities and certain conditions for visitors.
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Foreign tourists walk along Berawa Beach on June 19, 2020 in Badung, Bali. (Antara/Nyoman Hendra Wibowo)
T
ourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno recently floated the idea of promoting Indonesian tourism by granting “digital nomad” visas that allow foreign visitors to work during their stay, provided they don’t enter the local labor market.
Like tourist visas, they are easy to obtain, but they also allow the visa holder to stay in the country longer. The innovative visa would be granted to people who are not employed in the country they are visiting.
For example, digital nomad visas could be given to Australian tourists who work remotely from Bali but still pay their income tax in Australia. The advantage of providing digital nomad visas is that these working Australian tourists will spend most of their income in Indonesia, not in their home country. It benefits the tourists as well as the host country.
The experience of several nations that have applied it, such as Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados and Costa Rica, shows that digital nomad visas provide a couple of advantages. To the host country’s economy, the idea of granting digital nomad visas cannot be separated from the COVID-19 pandemic, which has forced the closure of international borders.
Some of the main reasons for a digital nomad visa include increasing demand for work from home (WFH), even when work from office (WFO) has resumed. Employees who work outside the office while on vacation to support their work-life balance are expected to increase company productivity.
The second factor is the pricing trend in the travel industry, with hotels offering daily, weekly and monthly packages, especially in essential destinations such as Bali or Lombok. These packages, often called “work from hotel”, provide convenience to remote workers.
The third factor is the increased types of work that can be done online. Multiple remote jobs, such as marketing consultant, software engineer, programmer, graphic designer and data analyst, are increasingly demanded and needed. On the other hand, companies can also save operational costs by allowing their employees to work remotely.
