International tourist arrivals

International airports

Main article: List of airports in Indonesia

Each of the larger Indonesian islands, have at least one international airport. The biggest airport in Indonesia, Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, is located in Tangerang Regency, Banten. There are four more international airports on Java, Adisumarmo International Airport in Solo, Central Java, Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, East Java, Achmad Yani International Airport in Semarang, Central Java and Adisucipto International Airport in Yogyakarta. On Kalimantan there is one international airport and there are two on Sumatra. Bali, which is part of the Nusa Tenggara Islands, has the Ngurah Rai International Airport.

Visa regulations

Tourists from Brunei, Chile, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Morocco, Peru, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam can enter Indonesia without a visa.[28] Citizens of these countries will be issued on arrival a permit for a 30 day stay upon presentation of a valid passport with at least six months to run. This stay permit cannot be extended or converted to another type of visa.

On February 1, 2004, Indonesia introduced unpopular and tighter tourist visa regulations. Although tourist visas were formerly free and valid for 60 days, visitors from certain countries must now purchase one of two visas on arrival: a $15USD visa valid for 10 days or a $25USD visa valid for 30 days. This was heavily protested by the tourist industry who point out that this cost adds up for families and 30 days is a very limited time to travel in Indonesia with a number of remote and hard to reach locations.[citation needed] The countries now subject to these tighter regulations include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, South Africa, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States.[29][30] On July 14, 2004, the Indonesian tourism ministry granted permission for more coutries to be included on the VOA list, including Iran,Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Russia, Egypt, Austria, Ireland, Qatar and Luxembourg.[29] The visa on arrival cannot be extended or converted into any other kind of visa. The visa holder also has to leave the country on the 30th day of the stay.

Visit Indonesia Year 2008

The Indonesian Ministry of Culture and Tourism, has declared 2008 as a Visit Indonesia Year[31]. Visit Indonesia Year 2008 has officially launched on 26 December 2007[32]
Visit Indonesia logo
Visit Indonesia logo

The figure of Visit Indonesia Year 2008 branding took the concept of Garuda Pancasila as the Indonesian way of life, but it was performed by perfectly modern approach. The 5 norms draw by 5 different colored lines and symbolized the Indonesian Unity in Diversity. This logo brand formulated into dynamic figure and colors as the implementation of Indonesian Dynamic which is developing. The types of letters of logo brand is driven from the Indonesian elements which perfectly by modern approach.

The targeted tourists are 7 millions. Visit Indonesia Year 2008 is also commemorating 100 years of Indonesia's national awakening in 1908

Threats to the tourism industry
Travel Warnings
Australia[33] 2006-08-21 All Indonesia Terrorist threats
UK[34] 2006-08-21 All Indonesia Terrorist threats
Maluku,
Central Sulawesi, Aceh Regional conflicts

The 2002 Bali bombing was a major blow to the tourism industry in Indonesia. A series of travel warnings were issued by a number of countries. Subsequently, the rate of tourism in Bali decreased by 31%.[35] Subsequently, a bombing continued occurred each year—the 2003 Marriott Hotel bombing, the 2004 Australian Embassy bombing in Jakarta, and a second bombing in Bali—which worsened the situation for the tourism industry. As of May 2008, no major terrorist attack has occurred since 2005 and the United States Government lifted its warning against travel to Indonesia.[36] In 2006, 227,000 Australians visited Indonesia and in 2007 this rose to 314,000.[36]

An outbreak of bird flu throughout the country has affected the numbers of foreign visitors. As of 2006, the outbreak had killed at least 46 people since 2005, making Indonesia the country with the highest death-toll from the recent epidemic.[37] However, since the disease has not yet been proven to mutate into a form that can transfer from human to human, the U.S. embassy, for example, has not yet issued a travel warning regarding the outbreak.[38]

Another major threat to the tourism industry are sectarian and separatist conflicts in Indonesia. Papua is still affected by Papuan separatism, while Maluku and Central Sulawesi have suffered in recent years from serious sectarian conflicts. Conversely, decades of separatism-related violence in Aceh ended in 2005 with the signing of a peace agreement between the Indonesia Government and the Free Aceh Movement.[39]

Recently in 2008, US government had lifted their travel warning on Indonesia.[40]

Guide books

Guide books and travel accounts with details of the country and people have had a long history - some books from the 1800s and early 1900s being classics with description of places that were perceived as things to see. Both private authors and government publications (such as the 1920s Come to Java books produced in Batavia by the government tourist bureau of the time) have been made each decade through to present. There were restrictions to tourism in the second world war and the mid to late 1960s - other than those two periods - travel accounts and guide books have been produced regularly. James Rush's and Adrian Vickers' texts mentioned below are excellent introductions to the range of writing that has been created.

The most popular Guide book on Indonesia in English in the 1980s was Bill Dalton's Indonesia Handbook, while from the 1990s and since Lonely Planet's edition Indonesia (Guidebook) has gone to its eighth edition in 2007. Many other guide books have also been produced - in English and other languages.

* This page was last modified on 8 June 2008, at 15:42.
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