House of Representatives Supports Visa-Free Policy

Jakarta (Antara) - Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Agus Hermanto supported the visa-free policy to 45 countries in a bid to boost the domestic economy. \"Indonesia\'s economy is decreasing. The visa-free policy can boost our economy. We support the policy,\" Agus Hermanto said here on Wednesday. The visa-free is one of the programs designed as part of the government\'s first phase of the economic structural reform policy package. Hermanto believed that the policy can attract foreign tourists to visit Indonesia. Therefore, Indonesia can beat the tourism industry in neighboring countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. \"Indonesia actually has a good potential in tourism. We should explore our tourist destination,\" he said. Earlier, Tourism Minister Arief Yahya 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 US$1 billion,\" 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.(*)