Travellers walk through the international arrivals hall at Ngurah Rai International Airport of Denpasar, Bali, Feb. 16, after a Singapore Airlines flight arrived following a nearly two-year break due to Covid-19. - AFP
JAKARTA, July 9 (Jakarta Post/ANN): Indonesia is tapping into a growing number of “digital nomads” by launching a special digital nomad visa, but more needs to be done to attract and retain foreign visitors to the country, say tourism specialists.
Budijanto Ardiansjah, vice chairman of the Association of Indonesian Tours and Travel Agencies (ASITA), suggested the government improve infrastructure, including telecommunications, digital and social infrastructure.
“Tax exemptions for income from overseas, if it’s going to be implemented as part of the digital nomad visa plan, must also be considered to make remote working easier,” he told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
Digital nomads are travelers who use technology to perform their jobs and typically spend weeks or months abroad before returning home.
Around 95 percent of surveyed digital nomads have said Indonesia is their “top of mind” destination for remote work and they are ready to travel, according to Tourism Minister Sandiaga Uno.
“The digital nomad visa is in line to [help achieve] the target of 1.5 million foreign tourists to visit Bali,” he said in a weekly press briefing on June 27.
Digital nomad visa
Pauline Suharno, chairwoman of the Indonesian Travel Agents Association (Astindo), urged the government to ensure the smooth implementation of the special digital nomad visa as in practice, obtaining visas with official rates is often complicated, pushing foreign tourists to opt for intermediary services, which are more expensive.
“The digital nomad visa is a good idea [considering] more companies allow work from anywhere. It would definitely propel tourism and related industries,” she told the Post on July 1.
Under Indonesian law, anyone who stays in the country for 183 days in a 12-month period is legally considered a tax resident. However, paying taxes requires a work permit commonly referred to as a limited stay permit (KITAS), which is not available to those traveling on a tourist visa. This leaves some would-be business-leisure travelers in a legal grey area.
The special five-year visa would possibly exempt remote workers from paying local taxes if they do not earn an income domestically.
“This digital nomad visa has entered the final stage of discussion and we will continue to coordinate with relevant ministries and institutions,” Sandiaga said on June 27.
The Covid-19 pandemic has pushed leaders of various companies worldwide to consider adopting work from anywhere for all or part of their workforces, according to the Harvard Business Review, citing companies including social media giants Twitter and Meta as well as Canada-based e-commerce Shopify, which has announced permanent remote work.
Responding to the situation, Indonesia plans to issue a five-year visa for remote workers and business-leisure travelers to lure visitors back to Bali and other destinations.
The ministry has considered the implementation of this special visa since early 2021, but the plan was pushed back by strict border controls and a lack of flights to Indonesia’s tourist destinations due to rising coronavirus cases.
“We hope the number of foreign tourist visits to Bali can increase by 50 to 60 percent, with longer lengths of stay and increased quality of spending,” he said, also on June 27.
Tapping opportunities
In Bali, Singapore-based Midstay is helping digital nomads by providing a website that curates co-working spaces, villas and scooter rentals in Bali to help them relocate to a new area abroad.
The company claims to have over 100 curated local partners and services on its platform.
The company has forecast around 80,000 digital nomads will visit Bali on a monthly basis, all of whom are expected to stay for two months on average, during the second half of this year, as Covid-19 travel restrictions start to ease worldwide.
Midstay chief executive officer Florian Jacques said he hoped to have 3,000 premium members on the website this year.
“The [digital nomad visa] plan is a very interesting marketing asset, a lot of people are interested in coming [to work] from Indonesia, especially Bali.
"We hope the implementation will be as good as it seems to be because it would be very helpful for foreign visitors who want to work from Indonesia for a longer period of time,” said the graphic design graduate from the College of Advertising and Design, Brussels, in a video call with the Post on June 29.
Almost six times as many foreign tourists visited Indonesia in April compared with the same month last year, according to Statistics Indonesia (BPS) data, showing that the country’s tourism has begun to bounce back.
The country expects to hit its target of 3.6 million tourist arrivals this year, with events like the Group of 20 meetings and various sporting competitions on the calendar. - Jakarta Post/ANN
