Meeting the minister in Kuta Bali
Today I was invited to an informal meeting with the Indonesian minister of tourism at the restaurant at Jalan Bypass owned by Hendra, the owner of Internet Outpost on Poppies II.
I took a few photos and will do a proper write up tommorrow when I confir with Hendra to make sure I’ve got all my facts right ( all the speaking was in Indonesian ).
I met many people involved in the tourist industry here locally and the scene was quite jovial as this was a gathering of successive classes of the tourism school in Bandung Java, with the minister the former dean.
For my part I managed to give him a BaliBlog t-shirt ( which he’ll probably use to clean his Mercedes ).
By Nick | Permalink
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Comments
Ha.. ha..I also have a Hat from GlobalXtreme, maybe the minister also have a Harley Davidson to be cleaned. I should invite him to our cafe and give the hat.
Nick
What are your latest thoughts on the visa situation?
Someone on the Lonely Planet website found a press article which states the new visa regulation will take effect in October, 2003.
And today’s Jakarta Post quotes the Minister of Justice and Human Rights as saying
1. visas-on-arrival would be valid only in the place of issuance and the surrounding areas
2. The facility could be applied for in all international airports and seaports
3. Visitors will only be allowed to enter certain parts of the country where the visa-on-arrival is issued
4. will have to repeat the process if they visit other places here
5. The visa-on-arrival is not extendible and only valid for 30 days
6. A visitor may only reapply for the facility after they leave the country for two weeks
7. between US$40 and US$45 for a visa-on-arrival
8. Visa-on-arrival facilities will be awarded to some of the 38 foreign countries currently scrapped from the list of visa-free for short visit recipients
This list fits with the things I’ve been hearing altough I have not heard all he items mentioned before.
The fact that there is any attempt to hinder tourist traffic is scary, especially after the local tourist industry has been hammered by the bombing, Iraq war, SARS, Nyepi Day.
I think the whole thing is a knee jerk ‘feel good’ responce to US aggression in another muslim country and to visa restrictions on Indonesians. Right now the US will not consider applications for tourist visas coming from Indonesian males. That said, there’s no reason to ruin your own tourism industry to ‘get back’ at the US and Australia.
Hi Nick,
There was a great letter written by a German man about the new visa requirement in todays Jakarta post …here’s the link http://www.thejakartapost.com/editorial.asp
Marie & Geoff,
Having a good time selling all that stuff you bought or hasn’t it arrived yet?
That was a good article. I stayed at a place called Puri Asri guest house on Saturday in Ubud.
I hear what he’s saying and agree that ther government should redo the business visa too, doing away with the ridiculous ’sponsor’ requirement.
Once again Bali is a wonderful destination, with great people and weather. It has a ton of tourist infrastructure and is very affordable. It should be a huge money spinner for Indonesia and they are crazy for not promoting it to the max and removing any barriers possible.
Hi Nick,
The container is scheduled to arrive the 28th. We are seriously thinking about checking out goods in Thailand. I just think they will make things harder for doing business in the future.
I have been going to bali at least once a year the last 14 years and have seen a large decline in tourism from years ago. What are they thinking??
They’re thinking “Let’s send everyone to Ko Phan Gan - we don’t want tourism anymore.”
Jason
Waikiki, Hawaii
I bet half the Indonesian Cabinet will be on the line after BaliBlog shirts.