Gov’t Reopens Juanda Airport for International Travelers of Non-migrant Workers

Government reopened Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, East Java province, for international departure and arrival of foreign nationals and Indonesian citizens non-migrant workers including Umra pilgrims.

“All preparation including the quarantine and isolation facilities, and officers to be deployed in the location have been coordinated. The reopening of Juanda Airport for foreign nationals and Indonesian citizens non-migrant workers will bring positive impact for the economy of East Java,” Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said after joining a limited meeting on the evaluation of public activity restrictions (PPKM) led by Vice President Ma’ruf Amin, Monday (03/14).

As for international tourists, Luhut added, visa on arrival will apply. Previously, visa on arrival policy only applied in Bali Island for limited countries.

“The Government will expand the application of visa on arrival to a number of targeted countries considered having high number of potential tourists and to G20 countries. In addition, the Government also apply visa on arrival in a number of airports such as in Jakarta and Surabaya,” he said.

He went on to say that visa on arrival policy has successfully increased the number of international tourists in Bali. There are 449 international tourist arrivals that generated Rp224 million of non-tax revenue.

The increase in the number of tourists also attributed to exemption of quarantine for international travelers which is applied in Bali.

“During the past week, the number of international tourists in Bali increased significantly while maintaining low positivity rate of less than one percent. We will continue to evaluate the policy for the next week before deciding to impose it throughout the country,” he remarked. (DND/UN) (RAS/LW)