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View all search resultsBatam pushes for free visa on arrival for China, South Korea, Japan, India
Foreign tourist arrivals in Batam have steadily increased in recent years, but numbers have yet to return to pre-pandemic levels.
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The Barelang Bridge on Batam Island is pictured in this file photo. (Shutterstock/Dwi Yulianto)
T
he Batam administration in Riau Islands province has called on the Immigration and Corrections Ministry to grant visa-free entry to tourists from China, South Korea, Japan and India, as part of ongoing efforts to revive the island’s tourist sector to pre-pandemic levels.
Ardiwinata, head of the Batam Tourism Agency, said the current visa-on-arrival (VoA) policy had become a major barrier to attracting international visitors. The VoA costs Rp 500,000 (US$30.45) and is valid for 30 days, with a one-time extension, also priced at Rp 500,000.
“The most crucial step for Batam’s tourism recovery right now is to implement a free visa-on-arrival scheme,” Ardiwinata told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
“Even if it’s not applied nationwide, it could be granted specifically for Batam, at the very least for tourists from South Korea and China, who previously made up a large portion of our visitors,” he added.
Read also: Singapore’s vaping restriction benefits tourism in Batam
Foreign tourist arrivals in Batam have steadily increased in recent years, but numbers have yet to return to pre-pandemic levels. In 2019, the island welcomed around 1.9 million international visitors. By contrast, only 1.3 million foreign tourists visited in 2024, a modest rise from 1.1 million in 2023.
The majority of visitors in recent years have come from Singapore, followed by Malaysia, China and India.
