Changes in international travel costs from Indonesia

At the start of the 2009, a few changes were made to costs associated with international travel for Indonesian citizens and residents.
Prior to January 2009, every adult resident or citizen had to pay 1 million Rupiah (about $140 AU) Fiscal tax every time they left the country, as well as 50 000RP ($7) departure tax. For a family of 5, it was just too expensive to leave often.

The new regulations waives this charge if you are a tax payer.

As we are tax payers in Indonesia we don't have to pay!

The departure tax has now risen though to 150 000RP per person, so we still have to pay this 5 times if we all leave (just over $100 AU).

Tiger air, a budget Singaporean airline, have started to fly routes out of Jakarta, which is great news as they have made trips to Singapore within our budget. Twice this year we have picked up $US6 flights.


(small print...once you add all seat and luggage charges plus tax's it does work out to be quite a bit more than $6, but nothing like the $1000+ it would be on Singapore air or Garuda Air)

The global banking crisis has had an extreme effect on the price of accommodation in Singapore, the cost of a room has dropped back to the affordable levels of 2006 and early 2007. Just about all hotels will not let you have a family of 5 in one room, you need 2 rooms, which is why we always try and get an apartment. Apartments have the advantage of kitchens and laundries which are very budget friendly. We recommend Le Grove apartments .

These 3 factors (fiscal, tiger air and accommodation costs) all mean we can do some more exploring in SE Asia. I have never been to Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam or Cambodia, I'm hoping that will change as soon as possible!