84 more countries added to free entry policy by Indonesian government
Indonesian government has decided to forgo requirements for visa of 84 countries from this week on wards. The decision was taken in light to encourage foreign tourists to visit the country. Mr. Rizal Ramli, a coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister was quoted as saying after a meeting, “we decided to apply the visa-free policy to 84 more countries starting this week.” 
He further added that the nationals of the following countries will no longer require visa to enter Indonesia: Australia, Brazil, Ukraine, Kenya, Uzbekistan, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Palestine, Honduras, Pakistan, Mongolia, Sierra Leone, Uruguay, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Costa Rica, Israel, Albania, Mozambique, Macedonia, El Salvador, Zambia, Moldova, Madagascar, Georgia, Namibia, Kiribati, Armenia, Bolivia, Bhutan, Guatemala, Mauritius and Paraguay.
He also said, “The total number of countries so far [that fall under the visa-free entry policy] since October is 174.” The free visa policy will hopefully add more tourist arrivals to the country which is expected to reach 20 million by 2019. Previously in October when such policy was announced to 47 countries, the country experienced 19 percent year-on-year increase in the tourist arrivals. Rizal was reported as saying, “the [19 percent] figure is much higher than the normal growth [rate], which is usually only 6 to 8 percent.”
From the plan of 2015-2019, the government seeks to earn around US$20 million in foreign exchange and expects to have employed 7 million workers in the tourism sector which at present stands at 3 million.
