Menparekraf Sandiaga Uno: Cost Of A Visit To Komodo National Park IDR 3.75 Million For Conservation

Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno/Via ANTARA

JAKARTA - Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno stated that the cost of visiting the Komodo National Park (TN) in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) is IDR 3.75 million per person for a year for the overall cost of the conservation of the destination.

This fee only applies to Komodo Island, Padar Island, and some surrounding waters.

"I'm pretty sure this policy will attract many tourists who will appreciate our conservation efforts and help build other destinations in NTT to become superior destinations," he said in a Weekly Press Briefing which was monitored virtually, Jakarta, Antara, Monday, July 11. .

The Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy stated that the government is focused on developing quality and sustainable tourism that will provide benefits from an economic point of view as well as in terms of environmental conservation.

Therefore, his party together with the NTT Provincial Government, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK), and the Komodo National Park Office made various efforts to provide solutions for tourism development and conservation in Komodo National Park.

One of them is the limitation of tourist visits to Komodo Island and Padar Island by 200 thousand people per year, considering that previously tourist arrivals to these destinations reached 300-400 thousand people per year so that it had a negative impact on the sustainability of the ecosystem in the area.

"The study of the carrying capacity and capacity of the Komodo National Park is our basis," said Sandiaga.

Based on the study of carrying capacity and carrying capacity based on ecosystem services and conservation integrity in Komodo National Park, it was found recommendations to impose conservation costs as well as the necessity of restricting visitors.

According to the Coordinator of the Komodo National Park Conservation Program, Carolina Noge, there are several issues that need to be addressed in the area. The first is waste management, then governance, as well as area security and supervision.

"We found that this reduction in the value of ecosystem services does not only occur naturally, but also by human activities (tourists) in it. Because of that, we decided to enforce restrictions by compensating for conservation costs,” said Caroline.