No visas to Indonesia as of April 1 - newspaper

BANGKOK, March 17. /TASS/. Indonesia is introducing a visa-free regime for 30 countries, including Russia, as of April 1, 2015, Indonesian Minister of Tourism Arief Yahya declared, according to Jakarta Globe newspaper. The visa-free regime will attract more vacationers to Indonesia, the local authorities said. Last year nine million tourists visited Indonesia, while the number of tourists in Thailand was 26 million, and 27 million vacationed in Malaysia. If visas are dropped we will achieve a serious growth of tourism to Indonesia in two years' time, the newspaper said, citing the minister. At present, citizens of 15 countries may visit Indonesia without visas; after April 1 the number of such visitors might grow threefold. Apart from Russia, the United States, China, Japan, South Korea, Poland, Hungary, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and some other countries are on a list of countries which will need no visas for its citizens to cross the border into Indonesia. Until now Russian tourists could get a visa to Indonesia upon arrival for a fee worth $35. The Russian embassy in Indonesia told TASS that they had not received any official notification yet about the planned change in the migration control. Read more