Singapore holidaymakers travelling to Bintan will have to start changing their money to the native Indonesian rupiah as the resort island has stopped accepting Singapore dollars.
Hotel operators have been told not to accept any more foreign currencies —including Singapore and American dollars, which were allowed for transaction previously. According to a report by TODAY, government policy has been enforced on the island, requiring all financial transactions within Indonesia to be made in rupiah.
However, the move is unclear as the rule was only recently carried out even though the rupiah-only policy were passed in 2011. Furthermore, local travel operators have mentioned to TODAY that they did not receive any official notification regarding the change of rules. On the official Bintan tourism website, it still states that “most of the resorts accept Singapore Dollars (SGD) & US Dollars (USD)”. Three resorts in Bintan have said that they will still accept SGD as payment.
Despite the minor inconvenience, tourists here will surely keep visiting Bintan, as it remains one of the more popular locales for short getaways.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
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