Indonesia will require accommodation providers listed on online travel agency (OTA) platforms to hold valid business licences under a new digital verification system due to become fully operational by June 2027, Malay Mail reported on May 27. The move is aimed at tightening oversight of the country’s fast-growing accommodation sector and improving governance across the tourism industry.
Indonesia’s Ministry of Tourism is developing the system using the country’s Online Single Submission (OSS) platform, which will be linked to OTA platforms through an application programming interface (API). The system will automatically verify whether hotels, villas, homestays and short-term rental properties have valid business licences before they can be marketed online.
Tourism Minister Widiyanti Putri Wardhana said the policy is intended to create a fairer operating environment for tourism businesses while supporting sustainable tourism growth. Under the proposed framework, OTAs will be required to suspend or remove non-compliant listings within two months of receiving official notification from authorities.
The government has already identified unlicensed accommodation providers operating through online distribution channels and plans to share those records with OTA operators for follow-up action. Officials said the initiative will improve consumer protection, strengthen regulatory compliance and encourage accommodation businesses to enter the formal economy.
The programme is expected to have implications for major global and regional OTAs operating in Indonesia. According to TTG Asia, the Ministry of Tourism is working with nine OTA partners, including Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia Group, Trip.com Group, Agoda and Indonesian platforms Traveloka and Tiket.com, to integrate licensing verification into their systems.
TTG Asia reported that around 1,600 accommodation operators have already been identified as operating without the required licences. The ministry has also instructed OTA platforms to stop accepting new accommodation merchants that cannot demonstrate valid licensing during the transition period.
The API-based verification platform is scheduled to begin integration in June 2026 and become fully operational by July 2027, allowing authorities to automatically identify and remove unlicensed accommodation listings from participating OTA platforms.