We were on for visa-free and then we were off and then we were on again and then we were off, but guess what? We’re on once again.
It seems that after two false starts, Australian travellers will finally get that visa-free travel to Indonesia that was promised a year ago.
If you’ve been keeping up, for around 12 months now the Indonesian government has struggled to maintain a yes or no on whether or not to allow Australians visa-free travel to the popular tourist destination.
We were initially added to a list of nationalities, including several from Asia and Europe, that would be exempt from paying the fee when travelling to the country.
However, because the Australian government wouldn’t provide reciprocal rights for Indonesians, the destination’s leaders pulled Aussies off the list – twice.
But now thanks to Canberra’s decision to introduce a three-year multiple entry visa and online application tool for Indonesians from 2017, the country seems to have eased back a little and decided to add us on that highly desired visa-free list, again.
The permit free entry will be available for those travelling for 30 days of less. In addition to saving Australians a few extra dollars on their next holiday, it also means spending less time trying to obtain a visa prior to departure.
There’s no official date for the change, news.com.au reported.
Australians are Indonesia’s third largest international visitor market, with some 1.09 million visiting the country in 2014. This was an increase of 17.06 percent on the previous year.
Bali captured 88 percent of total Australian visitation. Destinations beyond Bali are also seeing an increase in Australian numbers.
