YOGYAKARTA AIRPORT PROVIDES VOA COUNTER

INFO CPNS 2010 - Yogyakarta, Adi Sucipto international airport in Yogyakarta has provided a Visa on Arrival (VOA) counter at its international arrival terminal.

"We have actually been giving visa on arrival services since several months ago and so far it is running effectively enough," airport operator PT Angkasapura I operations manager Halendra said here on Monday.

He said the VOA counter was located at the airport`s international arrival terminal to give the best possible service to arriving foreign passengers.

"The counter is in the same line with the counters of body clean and thermo scanning, and the custom and excise," Halendra said.

He added that the VOA counter was expected to be used optimally by related parties and passengers who needed visa services.

"It is the immigration office and the bank which are tasked to give visa services and therefore we simply provide them with the counter that can be used optimally for our common interest," Halendra said.

He pointed out the there was a certain international airport with 20 counters for visa on arrival, but only one or two of them were used because of the short of human resources.

According to him, the flow of international passengers arriving at Adi Sucipto airport continued to increase significantly from 200 persons per day in 2008 to 350 persons per day in 2009, and rose by 53 percent.

"The significant increase of international passengers arriving at Adi Sucipto airport should of course be supported with significant service as well," Halendra said.

Starting in February 2010 Indonesia implements a new and more lenient visa on arrival system for citizens of many countries.

Culture and Tourism Ministry`s marketing director I Gde Pitana said in Jakarta recently that the new VOA service was expected to improve Indonesia`s image as a world destination and to encourage more foreign tourists to visit Indonesia.

He said the VoA service was designed for foreigners coming to Indonesia for holidaying, social, business or official visits.

The new policy was expected to increase the flow of tourists to Indonesia and thus also the country`s foreign exchange earnings.

Source: Antara news