Travel At Bali Airport Just Got Quicker As Leaders Back Calls To Scrap Flight Tax 

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Bali Airport is one of the busiest airports in Indonesia, with over 2.2 million passengers passing through the terminals each month; leaders have been working to make things easier and more efficient for travelers on the go.

Indonesian Ministers are also investigating ways to make flights more affordable for both domestic and international travellers.

I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport has just opened a new set of autogates that will help speed up the arrivals and departures process for tourists.

The first round of autogates was opened to the public earlier this year in the international arrivals and departures terminals; there have been plans to expand the rollout of autogates to ensure that Bali’s immigration services are world-class. 

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Speaking to reporters, the Head of the TPI Class I Immigration Office, Ngurah Rai Suhendra, said, “With 60 units, it means that more than 120 people can be cleared per minute at the same time.”

The airport has just opened a further 30 gates, bringing the total across terminals to 60. 

By the end of this month a further 20 autogates will be in operations bringing the total to 80 automates between the departure and arrivals terminals. 

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The autogates can be used by international travelers who have an electronic passport and are entering the country on an e-visa on arrival, any e-visa category, anyone on a KITAS or KITAP, as well as those traveling from visa-except countries such as ASEAN passport holders.

Moving forward, all tourists traveling to Bali and Indonesia more broadly are encouraged to apply for their e-VOA prior to their arrival in the country.

The visa is valid for 30 days and can be extended one time for a further 30 days, and this whole process can be completed online.

The e-VOA and VOA cost IDR 500,000 and are available to travelers from 97 nations.

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The autogates enable travelers to complete standard immigration checks, essentially being stamped in and out of the country, within 20-30 seconds.

This whole process ensures that even at the busiest travel times, Bali Airport will be able to reduce queue times to a bare minimum.

Officers from Bali Airport have always maintained that the autogates are tools to be used by the immigration service and are not replacing immigration officers at their desks. 

The rollout of more digitalized immigration and travel services for tourists to Bali is making travel even easier, but leaders want to go one step further and help ensure that travel to the province remains affordable for as many people as possible. 

The Indonesian Minister for Tourism and Creative Economies, Sandiaga Uno, has been in Bali this week and has given his support to a proposed policy change that would scrap specific flight taxes to help reduce overall costs. 

Speaking to the press, Minister Uno said, “Super agree, yes. Because if we look, one of the contributors to the expensive ticket price is the tax.”

He was clear that the high flight taxes were limited options for travelers taking international flights in and out of Bali, as well as domestic flights. Minister Uno is keen to see Bali lovers explore other regions of the country while on vacation too. 

Minister Uno was clear, however, that scrapping flight taxes would result in lost funds having to be recuperated elsewhere.

He added, “So, we have to find a policy mix that can patch the loss of taxes from plane tickets, but state income actually increases from the movement of Indonesian tourists.”

Last month the Minister for Investment and Maritime Affairs, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, confirmed that he would be working with his teams, airlines and other transportation authorities to find ways in which to reduce flight costs or create subsidises to help tackle rising flight costs.

He told reporters, “We are preparing several steps for flight efficiency and reducing ticket prices, for example, evaluating aircraft operating costs.”