Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, 300 to 400 tourists visited Laboan Bajo daily, Baut noted on Wednesday.
The office head voiced his optimism, as the number of tourists visiting Laboan Bajo had started to increase over the last week.
"We notice that in the past week, the number of tourist visits to Labuan Bajo had increased quite a bit as compared to the previous months," Baut told ANTARA .
During the past one week, several hotels in Labuan Bajo were packed with guests owing to various activities related to the G20 Summit, among other factors.
However, most of the visitors were domestic travelers and state guests, who came to Labuan Bajo to attend meetings.
"Meanwhile, no foreign tourist is seen so far. Data on the number of tourist visits is not available yet, but the fact that hotels in Labuan Bajo are full, so it is certain that the tourism sector in Labuan Bajo has started to recover," he added.
Baut is sanguine that the government's policy to relax COVID-19 public movement restrictions (PPKM) and the G20 side activities would be able to increase the number of tourist visits to Labuan Bajo.
"Moreover, we believe that the MotoGP in Mandalika would be able to boost tourist visits in this area," he remarked.
Mandalika in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Province will host a MotoGP race on March 18-20, 2022.
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Translator: Kornelis Kaha, Fardah
Editor: Suharto
Copyright © ANTARA 2022
