Indonesia and World Tourism News

Australian tourist visas in high demand in Indonesia

JAKARTA, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) — Indonesians planning to travel to Australia for holidays over the next few months should lodge their visa applications as soon as possible due to peaking demand, the Australian Embassy said here on Tuesday.

    Australia processed nearly 60,000 visitor visas for Indonesians planning a holiday or short stay in the country last year, a 12 percent increase on the previous year.

    ”Going by previous experience, November and December are particularly busy - our tourist applications often double at this time,” First Secretary at the Australian Embassy, Leanne Blackley, was quoted by the national Antara news agency as saying.

    ”We anticipate Australia will again be a popular holiday destination for Indonesians over the Christmas and New Year period. We are therefore encouraging people to plan ahead and lodge their visa applications as soon as possible,” Blackley added.

    ”If Indonesian visitors lodged visa applications now, we can process most in five working days or less. When our applications double in the weeks ahead, these visas may take longer,” Blackley said.

    She said she knew from the airlines that people were making holiday bookings already — and in some cases they were scheduling additional flights to meet the demand.

    Blackley pointed out that the Embassy was issuing more clients with a 12-month multiple entry visa, so they were able to travel as often as they like in the 12 months after the visa is issued.

    ”So there is every reason to apply now, rather than waiting until the final days before traveling to Australia,” she said, adding that the vast majority (96 percent) of visa applications lodged in Indonesia were approved last year.

Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/

Add comment December 5th, 2007

At Bali Indonesia offers trees to counter CO2 emissions

by Benteng Reges
Papua Governor Barnabas Suebu offers international community seven million hectares of tropical forests to reduce CO2 emissions. Indonesia is currently destroying 51 km2 of forests every day or 1.8 million hectares per year.

Bali (AsiaNews) – In order to counter illegal deforestation, one of the country’s worst problems, Indonesian authorities are offering seven million hectares to the international community to soak up and reduce CO2 emissions in the world. Governor Barnabas Suebu of Indonesia’s Papua province made the announcement yesterday at the start of the international conference on climate change in Bali.
This plan is part of a framework of co-operation between Greenpeace and the local government. “We are ready to do it with the available forest of seven million hectares,” the governor said, this against an “available forest of nine million.”

Mr Suebu also announced an overall review of the licensing process that grants private timber companies logging rights. So far the process has been abused by unscrupulous companies whose harvesting practices have tended to destroy everything.

During the governor’s press conference, environmentalists slammed the central government for issuing easy licences to forest companies who harvest the resource an industrial scale, especially for palm oil.

This industry is highly profitable but leaves a huge environmental print. In the last 25 years 18 million hectares of forests have been wiped out this way.

At present Indonesia’s forested areas still cover 145 million hectares, but are disappearing quickly.

According to a government report, each day the country loses 51 km2 in forests or the equivalent of 1.8 million hectares a year.

Source: http://www.asianews.it/

Add comment December 5th, 2007