During the 'visa rules panic' of late last year, people were talking about alternatives to LOS.

It seems like Indonesia's about to become a more viable alternative. Although maybe only for 6m a year - I seem to remember things get tricky after that on the tax front, & you become liable for taxes on your worldwide income & get charged a wad leaving the country.

http://www.antara.co.id/en/seenws/?id=27544

Also no news of the fees. And of course they could change the rules - which I think were justified as an anti-terror measure - yet again if tourism picks up &/ there's more trouble...

Indonesia to reopen international tourism offices

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - In an attempt to boost the declining number of foreign visitors to Indonesia, the government will re-open a dozen international tourism offices this year, local media reports said Tuesday.

Indonesia missed its tourist arrival target of 5.5 million in 2006, with only 4.8 million foreign visitors to the country, according to Tourism Minister Jero Wacik.

Indonesia has set a target of 6 million foreign visitors for this year and 8 million in 2009.

and:

"Our tourism promotion budget this year is only up to 6 million dollars, far behind neighbouring Malaysia, which is spending up to 60 million dollars for tourism promotion annually," Wacik said.

http://www.antara.co.id/en/seenws/?id=27352

Indirectly good news for Thailand-visitors if they see that too many tourists flow to other countries...maybe they'll losen the visa rules as well.

LaoPo

Indirectly good news for Thailand-visitors if they see that too many tourists flow to other countries...maybe they'll losen the visa rules as well.

That's a good point, but it could take a while. Indonesian tourism probably won't be affected much for 3-6 months (since people plan ahead a bit) and then the figures take a while to be published. And then the Thai government would have to notice...

This is great news; I am planning a trip there in a few months. Anyone have any idea when these new flexible visas will be available? I'm hoping they are already available or will be soon so I can avoid having to pay extra lawyer fees and crap like that.