| Abstract: |
Many countries have applied a new visa-free policy to boost the number of
international tourist. In 2003, the Presidential Decree of the Republic of
Indonesia No. 18/2003 concerning the Exemption from Brief Visit Visa for
citizens from 11 countries was enacted. Further the revised on Presidential
Decree of the Republic of Indonesia No. 43/2011, the latest exemption
regarding brief visa-free visit, was implemented for 15 countries. In this
study, a panel data set that covers 25 years (1990-2014) for a group from 20
of 30 main export destination countries was used. The number of inbound
international visitor arrivals was employed as a dependent variable in this
research. The impact of visa-free entry will be measured in this research.
Other variables that determine the dependent variables are the real GDP per
capita of the source countries; the trade value between Indonesia and the
source country, the population levels of the source country, the total number
of rooms in hotels available in Indonesia; the export value for the iron
metal, steel, machinery, and automotive sector, and the palm oil processing
sectors; the relative CPI of Indonesia; the number of world heritage sites in
Indonesia; the distance between the capital city of the source country to
Indonesia; dummy variables for the Bali bombings, Aceh tsunami, and Economic
Crisis in 1998; and the geographical characteristic of Indonesia and the
source country, such as whether there are neighboring regions, and whether
they practice the same language as Indonesia, and whether they practice the
same religion as Indonesia. The results show that the new visa-free entry
policy has a positive impact on the number of tourist arrivals. The new visa
policy positive significantly can boost the number of tourist arrivals. |