Indonesia to speed up entrance procedures for cruise ships, yachts

In a bid to tap more tourism potential from maritime sector, Indonesia is expected to simplify the entrance procedures for cruise ships and yachts that plan to sail around isles across the archipelago nation, a senior official said here on Wednesday.

Indroyono Susilo, coordinator minister for maritime sector, said, "In doing so, we will speed up the process in one-stop permission processing office led by the foreign affairs ministry."

The minister made the remarks on the sidelines of a meeting in the Fishery and Maritime Ministry premises here. He said that by speeding up the process, there would be 1,500 more cruise ships and yachts visiting the country.

Indroyono added that based on the results of online Clearance and Approval for Indonesia Territory (CAIT) application tests carried out by the government, the process to issue permission may take two to three days. "We are eager to make it into one day," he said.

The minister said the country also plans to open seaports across the country to facilitate visits of vessels carrying tourists. He added that regional governments will be encouraged to promote their tourism sector to attract foreign tourists.

Indonesia recorded visitations of cruise ships and yachts at 2, 000 units per year under CAIT mechanism. The country has so far provided 18 seaports to facilitate the visits.

Indonesia targeted to see some 10 million foreign tourists this year, higher than 8.802 million recorded last year. The country expects to see 25 million foreign tourists in 2025.