JAKARTA: Tourism Minister Widiyanti Putri Wardhana says the government has no plans to increase visa fees for international tourists amid a global trend of rising visa costs.
She added that there was no indication from the Immigration and Corrections Ministry that such a policy was under consideration.
"I don't think there are any plans [to raise visa fees] at this point," Widiyanti said on Wednesday (July 15) as quoted by Bisnis.com.
On the other hand, the government has expanded its visa-free entry policy, under Immigration and Corrections Ministry Regulation No. 10/2026, which took effect on July 9, adding six countries and territories to its visa-free list, including Turkey, Brazil, Peru, Kazakhstan, Macau and Belarus.
The expansion brings the total number of countries and territories eligible for visa-free entry to 19.
Visitors from these locations may enter Indonesia for up to 30 days for tourism or social visits without applying for a visa.
The move comes as several major tourist destinations have raised visa fees this year.
Japan introduced its first visa fee increase in nearly 50 years, raising the cost of a single-entry and multiple-entry visa fivefold starting July 1.
Australia also raised most visa application charges by around 25 per cent from July 1, with some categories seeing much steeper increases.
Widiyanti argued that easing travel requirements is a more effective way of attracting international visitors than raising visa fees.
Citing a World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) study showing that visa facilitation policies can increase tourist arrivals by around 24 per cent.
"Based on our 2018 data, the increase was actually higher than the WTTC estimate at 32.4 per cent, while tourism foreign exchange earnings rose by more than 33 per cent," she said.
A separate study by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), she said, also found that visa-free policies among member economies boosted tourist arrivals by an average of 27 per cent.
The Tourism Ministry recorded 6.07 million foreign tourist arrivals between January and May, up 7.68 per cent from the same period last year.
Widiyanti said the figures demonstrated that Indonesia remained an attractive destination despite global headwinds.
Domestic tourism also continued to expand, with trips by Indonesian travellers rising 8.69 per cent year-on-year in May.
Cumulative domestic trips reached 523.22 million during the first five months of 2026, an increase of 2.86 per cent from a year earlier.
Indonesia also maintained a surplus in international travel flows. In May, inbound foreign tourist arrivals exceeded the number of Indonesians travelling overseas by 15.48 per cent.
Over the January-May period, the cumulative surplus reached 2.37 million trips, up 32.49 per cent year-on-year.
Looking ahead, the government plans to sustain the momentum through improvements in destination quality, stronger tourism promotion and a series of strategic programs focused on safety, sustainability and digitalisation.
The ministry recently launched five priority initiatives covering tourism safety, village tourism development, higher-value tourism products, internationally branded events under the "Hidden by Indonesia" campaign and Tourism 5.0, which includes AI-powered tourism services, integrated tourism data and digital platforms aimed at improving visitor experience. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
