VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Starting June 9, 2018, Indonesian tourists are banned to enter Israel. Israeli government has issued a policy as a form of retaliation for the ban on Israeli tourists entering Indonesia. The Israeli government says, Indonesian tourists can still go to Israel until June 9. However, after June 9, they both individuals and groups will not be allowed to enter Israel. The decision is regretted by many parties because the city of Jerusalem in Israel is one of the frequently visited cities as a place of worship and religious tourism for Indonesian tourists. Indeed, Indonesia and Israel have no diplomatic relations until now. However, for tourist affairs, especially religious tourism in Israel, Indonesian tourists have a special visa. In regard to the next ban, Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked the people of Indonesia to understand. Therefore, each country has a policy related to the granting of visa facility. For this matter, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Retno Marsudi has coordinated with the Minister of Justice and Human Rights (Menkumham), Yasonna Laoly. The ban on the entry of Indonesian tourists to Israel is disadvantageous not only with Indonesian tourists themselves, but also managers of travel agencies. As we known that Jerusalem is a holy city worth visiting for believers of three religions, namely Jews, Christians, and Islam. Every year, Muslims from various countries, including Indonesia visit Al-Aqsa Mosque on special visas. In addition, Indonesian Christians also make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. It is estimated that the number of tourists from Indonesia to Israel reaches about 40 thousand each year. With gross calculation, the financial loss due to Indonesian tourists who cannot travel to Israel per year could reach Rp 2.23 trillion. The calculation is by including the assumption of the number of tourists reaching as many as 40 thousand people and each person spends around Rp 55.8 million for the tourism cost. Indeed, the ban on Indonesian tourists to Israel does not have an economic impact for Indonesia. The ban is more social impact, especially for Muslims and Christians who want to carry out religious visit to the Holy City of Jerusalem. Especially for Christians, visiting the Holy City of Jerusalem is like doing Umrah to Saudi Arabia for Muslims. Jerusalem is the holy city for the populations of the world. Everyone has the same right to visit a place that is considered holy. So, it is not appropriate to ban anyone to make a visit to holy sites.