Skift Take
Destinations taking baby steps towards travel recovery should look to turn entry barriers into opportunities. Governments should reflect and review their pre-Covid traditional visa policies to make way for technology-enabled progressive approaches and the visa fee, though small, plays its part in determining travel decisions.
Indonesia's tourism leaders last week were up in arms after reports that the government was deciding to triple the visa-on-arrival cost from $35 to $105, clearly a deterrent to tourists looking to travel again.
The Bali Post first reported the news but Indonesian officials have now refuted that, but Hannah Pearson, director of Pear Anderson — a research and tourism consultancy — feared the damage may have already been done in the short-term, with budget travelers perhaps considering that they are being priced out of a trip to Bali.
“Post-Covid travelers worldwide are definitely feeling the crunch due to an increase in general cost of living expenses, so every little fee adds up,” said Pearson.
Indeed, visas are once again revealing themselves as a double-edged sword for the travel industry.
A shift to visa-free travel led to a 16.6 percent growth in global travel demand, while the introduction of new types of visas resulted in
Photo Credit: Visa policies are among the most important governmental policies influencing international travel. Flickr / Martin Fuhrmann