Legislator Calls for Evaluation of Visa-Free Facility

Semarang, Central Java, MINA – A legislator has suggested that the government should evaluate the implementation of its visa-free policy for visitors coming from 169 countries, Antara News reported.

“It is better for the government to evaluate the visa-free facility which has no impact on improving the welfare of the people,” Abdul Fikri Faqih, the deputy chairman of Commission X of the House of Representatives (DPR) said here on Saturday.

The government issued the visa-free facility for 169 countries in order to boost the number of foreign tourist arrivals in the country.

He said that the government should, for example, evaluate the granting of visa-free facility to a country whose citizens had never made a visit to Indonesia.

Evaluation could also be made on a country whose citizens conducted visits to Indonesia but their spending is still less than US$1000.

“Countries with these conditions are not important to be given a visa-free facility. The policy must have impact on improving the welfare of the community,” said Faqih, who is also the chairman of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) for Central Java, said.

Even though there is no visa exemption policy, the PKS legislator believed that the government would achieve its target of foreign tourist arrivals in Indonesia in 2018.

“There are complaints Today that many tourists have visited the country but it did not bring prosperity to the people,” he said.

He mentioned that one of them was a complaint in tourism management in Bali.T/RS5/RS1)

Mi’raj islamic News Agency (MINA)