JAKARTA: Tourism Minister Widiyanti Putri Wardhana says the government has no plans to increase visa fees for 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 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 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 five-fold starting July 1.
Australia also raised most visa application charges by 25% from July 1, with some categories seeing much steeper increases.
Widiyanti argued that easing travel requirements is a more effective way of attracting visitors than raising visa fees.
Citing a World Travel and Tourism Council (WTCC) study showing that visa facilitation policies can increase tourist arrivals by around 24%.
”Based on 2018 data, the increase was actually higher than the WTTC estimate at 32.4%, while tourism foreign exchange earnings rose by more than 33%,” she said.
“A study by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation also found that visa-free policies among member economies boosted tourist arrivals by an average of 27%,” she added.
The Tourism Ministry recorded 6.07 million foreign tourist arrivals between January and May, up 7.68% 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 travelers rising 8.69% year-on-year (y-o-y) in May.
Cumulative domestic trips reached 523.22 million during the first five months of 2026, an increase of 2.86% from a year earlier.
Indonesia also maintained a surplus in international travel flows. In May, inbound foreign arrivals exceeded the number of Indonesians traveling overseas by 15.48%.
Over the January to May period, the cumulative surplus reached 2.37 million trips, up 32.49% y-o-y.
The government plans to sustain the momentum through improvements in destination quality, stronger tourism promotion strategic programmes focused on safety, sustainability and digitalisation.
The ministry 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.
The latter includes artificial intelligence-powered services, integrated tourism data and digital platforms to improve visitor experience. — The Jakarta Post/ANN
