At the Gateway of India restaurant in the heart of the tourist district of Seminyak, Bali, Mumbai-based Anand Kumar, 34, reasoned why he and his wife of three months chose Bali for their honeymoon.
Despite a three-hour transit time in Kuala Lumpur and high airfares, it was Indonesia's visa on arrival allowing stays of up to two months for a 500,000 rupiah (S$44) fee which made the difference.
By comparison, visa applications to places such as the European Union or Australia could take months, and Mr Kumar, who said he is a software engineer, did not have so much time to wait.
"We wanted something different for our honeymoon, and we had already been to Thailand," Mr Kumar told The Straits Times. "We had to decide where to go based on where we could get a visa."
There were about 150,000 arrivals from India, according to the latest airport data for the 11 months to November 2022, well behind the Australians who numbered more than half a million. From Britain, there were nearly 110,000 arrivals.
This story is from the January 19, 2023 edition of The Straits Times.
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This story is from the January 19, 2023 edition of The Straits Times.
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