Usually, every day, an average of 400 people visit Komodo Island, but due to COVID-19, the area had been closedKupang, E Nusa Tenggara (ANTARA) - A total of 5,719 tourists paid a visit to the Komodo Island between August and October this year, and the number of visitors has now begun to increase, according to the Komodo National Park’s records.
“Usually, every day, an average of 400 people visit Komodo Island, but due to COVID-19, the area had been closed. Now, it has reopened and the number of tourist visits has begun to increase," said head of Komodo National Park, Lukita Awang Nistyantara, on Thursday.
He made the remarks while speaking to ANTARA about the trend of tourist visits to Komodo Island in Labuan Bajo, West Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), after it was reopened to the public in early August, 2020.
He further said the number of tourists visiting Komodo Island to see the giant lizards has continued to increase.
As per the records of the Komodo National Park Office, just 251 people visited the island in August this year. The number of visitors increased to 1,804 in September and then to 3,555 in October.
Of the total tourists visiting Komodo Island, around 90 percent were domestic tourists and the rest were foreign tourists.
The foreign tourists, Nistyantara said, were those who did not get the chance to return to their home countries due to the movement restrictions put in place in the wake of the pandemic.
He said he hopes that starting January, 2021, tourist visits to the island will return to normal.
Furthermore, the Indonesian government has prepared health, safety, and security protocols for Labuan Bajo to set tourists visiting the area at ease.
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Translator: Bernadus Tokan/Aria Cindyara
Editor: Sri Haryati
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