Following reports from several local outlets about the Indonesian government’s plan to increase the price of visas on arrival (VOA) threefold, two officials (including Bali Governor Wayan Koster) separately told reporters that the news is not true.
As previously reported by several local news outlets, the chairman of Indonesia’s Tourism Industry Collective (GIPI), Ida Bagus Agung Partha Adnyana, expressed his concerns about a plan to increase VOA fee in a panel discussion in Nusa Dua last week.
When he was contacted to provide further details about the issue, Partha Adnyana said that he had received what appeared to be an official memo citing a discussion to increase the VOA fee to IDR 1.5 million (around US$ 105).
Currently, one needs to pay IDR 500,000 (about US$35) to get a VOA.
“I just received a note but if it [is true], we object,” Partha Adnyana said, while adding that the association was “confused” as the note looked “official”.
After the news broke last week, the head of the Bali office of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, Jamaruli Manihuruk, said over the weekend that there has been no changes to the VOA fee.
“[VOA fee] remains at IDR 500,000 (about US$35),” Jamaruli said, calling news about the plan to increase the VOA fee was “misinformed” and labeling it a “hoax.”
Separately, Bali Governor Wayan Koster said that he has been in touch with officials of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights and also received confirmation that the news was “a hoax.”
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