From June To December, Kelimutu Lake Has Zero Visitors

Kelimutu Lake. (Photo: Yuk Travel)

JAKARTA - The Kelimutu National Park Office noted that during June to mid-December 2020, there had never been a single foreign tourist who visited the natural tourism area on Lake Kelimutu.

"Since reopening in June until now (December, red) there have never been any foreign tourists visiting Lake Kelimutu. Most of them are domestic tourists," said the Kelimutu National Park Resort Coordinator Albert Tamonob, quoted from Antara, Friday 18 December .

He said this was related to the impact of COVID-19 on the number of tourist visits to the Kelimutu tricolor lake which is also commonly called the tricolor lake.

Albert admitted that since COVID-19, the number of tourist visits to tourist areas has dropped dramatically. Moreover, the tourist area was closed for several months.

However, he said that since last June his party reopened the tourist area, but imposed entry restrictions for tourists visiting per day.

"The quota per day only reaches around 390 for those who enter here. And tourists who come must first register via the Whatsapp messaging application, then record it," he said.

The process of paying the entrance ticket, he said, could only be done after the order arrived at the entrance to the Kelimutu National Park. But he admitted that so far only domestic tourists had traveled to the area.

"Whether it's from outside NTT such as Java and its surroundings, or also in the NTT region itself such as from Kupang, and other areas in NTT," he added.

However, sometimes the number that has been set per day exceeds the target and even reaches around 400 tourists. Forced, Alberth admitted that his party refused to accept the registration of tourists who wanted to travel to the area.

So that the only way is to propose that those who are not included in the quota are expected to register on the following day. This was done, he said, solely to prevent the buildup of tourists in the area.

He also added that the implementation of the protocol has been carried out since the entrance. In Lopo there are only 25 tourists, as well as in the temporary shelter in Lopo the number can reach 30. But if you are at the top of the mountain the number can reach 100 people.

"If more than that there will be officers who supervise and reprimand," he added.

Albert also hopes that this pandemic will end soon, so that the number of tourist visits will also increase and there will be no more restrictions on tourists arriving.