While Australian tourists continue to flock to Bali, experts have warned Australia's complex visa system is preventing Indonesia's growing middle class from bringing their tourism dollars Down Under.

随着澳大利亚游客不断涌向巴厘岛，专家们警告说，澳大利亚复杂的签证制度正在将印尼不断扩大的中产阶层拒之门外。

When Indonesia began granting visas on arrival to Australian citizens in 2016, the number of tourists visiting Bali increased by more than 16 per cent and contributed $145 million to the local economy.

2016年，当印度尼西亚开始向澳大利亚公民发放签证时，访问巴厘岛的游客人数增加了16％以上，为当地经济贡献了1.45亿美元。

But the new measure was not reciprocal — Indonesian citizens still need to pay expensive, non-refundable visa fees and go through Australia's complicated application process.

但是，新措施不是互惠的。印度尼西亚公民仍然需要支付昂贵的、不可退还的签证费，并要经历澳大利亚复杂的申请程序。

这些数据表明，这使得潜在的旅行者望而却步，去年前往海外旅游的900多万印度尼西亚人中，只有1.1%选择访问澳大利亚。

印度尼西亚年轻的环球旅行家科芒·阿里安蒂说：“与申请美国和申根（欧洲）签证相比，我们需要提供更多的文书和辅助文件。”

阿里安蒂女士不介意为无法退回的旅游签证申请支付140美元，但她表示，她宁愿去更远的国家，如日本、韩国或中国，那里的签证费和机票价格都便宜得多。

总部位于珀斯的印度尼西亚研究所所长罗斯·泰勒说，澳大利亚的规章制度没有反映出联邦政府希望与印度尼西亚建立更密切联系的愿望。他说，签证障碍是边境安全问题导致的，以应对印度尼西亚恐怖主义和非法移民的威胁。

"We know [visa regulations] play an important role, but we believe it is very overdone," Mr Taylor said. "The mix of keeping our border safe and the need to open up to and work more closely with Indonesia is out of balance."

泰勒先生说：“我们知道（签证规定）发挥着重要作用，但我们觉得这些规定过分了。维护我国边界安全与同印度尼西亚更密切合作之间的关系是不平衡的。”

Ms Arianti said travelling to Australia had never really crossed her mind much before she visited, as many young Indonesians view Europe as their Western travel destination of choice. "What we hear about the Indonesia and Australia relationship is often negative, such as the boat people issue or racism," she said. "But after I visited Tasmania, it turned out that the Australian people are friendly and very helpful."

阿里安蒂表示，在前往澳大利亚之前，她从来没有真正考虑过这个想法，因为许多印度尼西亚青年认为欧洲是他们的西方旅行目的地。她说：“我们听说的印尼和澳大利亚的关系大多是负面的，比如船民问题或种族主义。但在我访问塔斯马尼亚之后，事实证明，澳大利亚人民是友好而乐于助人的。”

According to Mr Taylor's research, Indonesia's international tourism market is growing rapidly, and the top travel destinations are Indonesia's close neighbours in Southeast Asia followed by China, Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea. But Australia is not even on the radar — only 100,516 Indonesians came to Australia last year, including business travellers and students.

根据泰勒的研究，印度尼西亚的国际旅游市场正在迅速增长，最热门的旅游目的地是印度尼西亚在东南亚的近邻，其次是中国、日本和韩国。澳大利亚完全不在其列，去年只有100,516名印尼人来到澳大利亚，包括商务旅客和学生。

在雅加达担任通讯策略师的阿里安蒂女士表示，澳大利亚没有抓住机会进入印度尼西亚不断增长的年轻旅客市场，这让人感到遗憾。她说：“我们的年轻人英语说得很好，在Instagram上非常活跃。在文化上，我们相通的东西要比美国人多。但澳大利亚的影响力比美国和韩国小，但澳大利亚其实比较近。”

Mr Taylor said the Federal Government should reconsider its visitor visa policies. "The easier visa process and cheaper visa fee for Indonesia will definitely bring more economic benefits to Australia and our security in the future," he said. "You can't say you want all those things as part of a deeper, seriously more engaged relationship, but then on the other hand you turn around and say to them, 'but we actually don't really want too many of you coming to our country'."

泰勒表示，联邦政府应该重新考虑其旅游签证政策。他说：“便捷的签证手续和便宜的签证费肯定会给澳大利亚带来更多的经济利益，也会在未来带来安全。你不能一边说我们希望拥有更深层次、更认真、更亲密的关系，但是另一方面，你转过身来对他们说，我们实际上并不希望太多人来到我们的国家。”

Mr Taylor said tourism was the best way to forge a more intimate bilateral relationship, giving Indonesians the chance to see how Australians live and challenging "ignorance, misperceptions and suspicions" about Indonesia. "It would be a wonderful way to bring hundreds of thousands more Indonesians to Australia, so we start getting to know them better."

泰勒表示，旅游业是建立更亲密的双边关系的最佳途径，让印度尼西亚人有机会了解澳大利亚人的生活方式，并挑战澳大利亚人对印度尼西亚的“无知、误解和怀疑”。“这将是带几十万印度尼西亚人到澳大利亚的好方法，我们开始更好地认识他们。”他说。