Govt eases yacht permits for marine tourism boost

by The Jakarta Post on 26 Nov 2014 In recognition of the potential of the country’s marine sector to become a key driver of the economy and to create jobs, the new government is preparing measures to develop the cruise and yacht-tourism industries as part of an effort to double the number of foreign visitors entering the country within five years.

The government will expedite permitting for yachts wanting to enter the country’s ports, from taking weeks to taking one day only, with an online one-stop service protocol under the management of the Foreign Ministry, said Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Indroyono Soesilo.

The government is also planning to lengthen the time yacht permits would remain valid, from a period of six months to a whole year of multiple entries.

Under the current regulation, yacht owners and cruise ship companies must obtain permits from at least 16 institutions — including the Foreign Ministry, the Transportation Ministry and the Indonesian Military (TNI) — and the lengthy process discourages them from spurring local economic activities.

The government has estimated that the number of incoming yachts would double to 1,500 after the policy is implemented next year through a presidential regulation (Perpres). The policy is also expected to boost state revenues from the tourism industry, as passengers of cruise lines have high purchasing power.

'According to our calculation, a passenger of a cruise line spends an average of US$500 per day and $2,000 per week,' Indroyono said in an interview with The Jakarta Post.

The plan was proposed by the Tourism Ministry recently as part of the ministry’s target to increase the number of foreign tourists to between 10 and 20 million in the period from 2015 to 2019, according to him. Last year, Indonesia welcomed a total of 8.8 million foreign tourists.

'With the ease of yachts entering the country’s coastal regencies, we hope that it could boost the tourism industry’s contribution to foreign exchange and also help it develop beyond Bali,' Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said.

Under the sea highway initiative, in which the government is planning to increase the capacity of up to 30 seaports across the archipelago, the ministry is also aiming to see an increase of foreign tourists brought to Indonesia aboard cruise ships to at least 500,000, with a hoped-for 700 cruise calls in 2016.

'We think it is important to increase the number of tourists from cruises and yachts because these tourists are mostly people with very strong purchasing power and we have all the resources to actually lure them to visit the country,' the Tourism Ministry’s marketing director general Esthy Reko Astuti told the Post.

The government’s annual sail event, which was held in Raja Ampat this year, is part of its effort to boost the number of cruises, according to her. The international event is scheduled to be held in Tomini, Central Sulawesi next year.

The government had also instructed ailing state-owned shipping firm PT Pelayaran Nasional Indonesia (Pelni) to start venturing into the cruise industry, both to boost the firm’s revenues and to support the government’s sea highway program.
• Permitting for yachts will be expedited from weeks to one day only, with an online one-stop service
• Yacht permits will be valid for one year of multiple entries, vs 6 months at present
Pelni will be launching marine tourism travel packages for four days to Wakatobi, Southeast Sulawesi and three days to Raja Ampat in West Papua, later in December during Christmas holidays, with an average passenger capacity of 200 people.

'We are aiming at luring more domestic tourists or budget-conscious foreign travelers to visit the eastern part of the country with the affordable packages we offer, since we are not operating luxury cruise ships and just use our regular ships that have no schedule during the Christmas holidays,' he said.

Elfien said that the shipping firm was scheduled to provide cruises to nine other destinations next year, including to Derawan Island in East Kalimantan and Komodo Island in East Nusa Tenggara. 'If the demand is good, then there is a possibility we will operate a cruise ship in the coming years.'

Last month, Carnival Corporation, a British-American cruise firm and the world’s largest cruise ship operator, was reportedly planning to launch the largest deployment by a premium cruise line to Southeast Asia, including to Indonesia, on Jan. 13 next year.

The company, which owns Princess Cruises as one of its brands, was catapulted to stardom in 1977 when one of its ships, the Pacific Princess, was cast in the title role in the television show, The Love Boat.