Digital payments through Indonesian Standard Quick Response Code (QRIS) are making travel in West Sumatra easier for Malaysian tourists, boosting both tourism revenue and opportunities for local Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
Bank Indonesia (BI) reported that between January and July 2025, the value of such cross-border transactions via QRIS in West Sumatra reached Rp14.1 billion. These digital transactions have also provided a boost to the tourism sector as well as MSMEs in the province.
The Head of the BI West Sumatra Representative Office, Mohamad Abdul Majid Ikram, stated that the convenience of digital transactions is a key factor in increasing the foreign tourists’ spending, while also creating significant opportunities for local economic growth.
He confirmed that his office will continue to encourage foreign visitors to use QRIS.
“We continue to encourage foreign tourists to use QRIS. This is a huge opportunity for the advancement of West Sumatra’s tourism and its MSMEs,” Ikram said on Tuesday, the 30th of September.
According to data obtained by BI, around 37,000 Malaysian tourists visited West Sumatra in the first seven months of this year, with 23,000 of them recorded as actively using QRIS as a payment method. Approximately 60% of these digital transactions involved MSMEs, particularly in the culinary sector.
“As much as 60% of their transactions were for culinary purposes, and that’s outside of large restaurants. So, our MSMEs have really benefitted [from QRIS payment],” Ikram explained.
The Cross-Border QRIS Programme is part of BI’s payment system regionalisation efforts with partners in Southeast Asia. Currently, in addition to Malaysia, similar work is underway with Thailand, and it is expected to expand to other countries in the region in the future. The BI West Sumatra Representative Office, in particular, remains optimistic that the wider implementation of the Cross-Border QRIS Programme will increase both the number of visits and the spending of foreign tourists.
“This is one of the real benefits of the Cross-Border QRIS [Programme] — it provides convenience for [foreign] tourists while opening up broader market access for local businesses,” Ikram added.