Indonesia woos digital nomads with 5-year remote working visa, and promotes spiritual getaways, to bring in longer-staying visitors
- Successful applicants will not pay taxes if their income is not earned in Indonesia – part of plans to draw travellers who stay longer and spend more
- Nation will also promote its spiritual retreats in places like Bali. Not sun, sea and sand, but serenity, spirituality and sustainability, tourism minister says
Bali’s bars and beaches may have to take the back seat as Indonesia looks to promote its spiritual getaways and booming tech scene to lure longer-staying, higher-spending travellers back to its islands.
Ecological tourism, sporting events and a special five-year visa for remote workers should bring 3.6 million overseas travellers back to the archipelago now that borders have reopened, Tourism Minister Sandiaga Uno said in an interview. This should help create over 1 million jobs for Indonesians, he added.
“In the past, the three S was: sun, sea and sand. We’re moving it to serenity, spirituality and sustainability. This way we’re getting better quality and better impact to the local economy,” Uno said.
Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, has scrapped most of the travel restrictions it imposed to curb the spread of coronavirus, allowing fully vaccinated visitors to enter without testing or quarantine requirements, as Covid-19 cases stay low and booster doses are rolled out. Tourist arrivals jumped 500 per cent to 111,000 in April, the highest monthly tally since the pandemic.
