JAKARTA, May 27 — Indonesia plans to require all domestic accommodation providers listed on online travel agent (OTA) platforms to hold valid business licences by June 2027 under a new digital verification system aimed at tightening oversight of the country’s tourism sector.

Tourism Minister Widiyanti Putri Wardhana said the ministry was developing the system using Indonesia’s existing Online Single Submission (OSS) platform to automatically verify whether accommodations marketed through OTA platforms, including hotels, villas, homestays and short-term rentals, possess valid business licences.

“Our policy direction is clear. We aim to foster a fair and competitive tourism industry to support sustainable tourism growth,” she said in a statement on Wednesday.

Widiyanti said the system would use an Application Programming Interface (API)-based mechanism linked to OTA platforms and the OSS system to automatically verify accommodation business data.

She said the ministry had identified several unlicensed accommodation operators and would submit the list to OTA platforms for follow-up action.

Under the proposed mechanism, OTA operators would suspend or delist non-compliant merchants within two months of receiving official notification, she added.

She explained that the initiative was intended to improve governance of Indonesia’s digital tourism ecosystem, protect tourists, support fair business competition, and encourage accommodation operators to enter the formal business system. — Bernama