The regulation will take effect on February 1 and enable tourists to buy visas at airports in the cities of Jakarta, Bali, Medan, Surabaya, Manado and Padang, Saturday's Kompas daily newpspaper quoted Justice Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra as saying.

He said the countries included in the new law are: South Africa, Argentina, Denmark, The United Arab Emirates, Italy, Canada, Poland, South Korea, New Zealand, France, United States, Britain, Australia, Japan, France, Hungary, Norway, Swiss, Taiwan, Brazil and Finland.

Tourists from nine countries and two regions will not need visas at all because their governments give Indonesians similar privileges.

They are Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, Morocco, Peru, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Macau.

The new policy will scrap visa-free entry policy to tourists from 21 countries, down from the previous list of 60 countries.

It has sparked protests from the tourism industry, which is still reeling from the impact of the Bali bombings on October 12 last year and the regional outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome last spring.

An August 5 hotel bombing in Jakarta also unnerved some travellers.