Indonesia scraps visa-free entry for NZ tourists

By ALAN PERROTT AND NZPA

New Zealand tourists will have to pay to enter Indonesia once this country is stripped of its visa-free entry status.

New Zealand is among 37 countries to be affected by Indonesia's decision to scrap visa-free tourist entry. Other nations include key markets Japan, Australia and Europe at a time when the country is fighting an image problem following last October's Bali bombings.

About 16,700 New Zealanders and 300,000 Australians visited Bali each year before the Bali bombing in October 2002.

Website Planetholiday.com said an Indonesian tourist visa costs about $30.

Travel agents have bemoaned Indonesia's decision, saying it would reduce arrivals.

An immigration bureau spokesman said yesterday that visa-free facilities would only be accorded to 11 countries that gave the same service to Indonesia: Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Brunei, Hong Kong, Macau, Turkey, Peru, Chile and Morocco.

The spokesman said the policy would take effect when implementing guidelines had been drawn up.

Local media reported that President Megawati Sukarnoputri had signed a decree authorising the move, which also cut the maximum tourist stay from 60 days to 30.

Tourism is the second-largest non-oil-and-gas foreign exchange contributor to Indonesia. In 2002, the sector provided about $5.4 billion in foreign currency to the economy.

Tourist visits to Indonesia as a whole in February rose 3.73 per cent to 289,764 from 279,352 in January, but were down 9.02 per cent from February of 2002.

Figures for total arrivals last year were not immediately available.