NTT Provincial Government Affirms Structuring Komodo Tourism Areas Will Not Disturb Ecosystems, Guarantees There Will Be No Hotels-Restaurants

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KUPANG - Head of the East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) Tourism Office, Sony Zeth Libing, said that the arrangement of the Komodo Island tourist area had no impact on the damage to the ecosystem in the Komodo and Padar Island tourist areas.

"The NTT Provincial Government emphasizes that the policy of structuring the Komodo tourism area will not impact the ecosystem damage on Komodo Island," said Sony as quoted by ANTARA, Wednesday, July 20.

Sony said that there are no business activities carried out by certain parties on Komodo Island or Padar Island but what is being done is conservation.

"There is no plan to build any hotels or lodging facilities on Komodo and Padar Islands. The accusation is very baseless because the concept is to preserve Komodo and conserve it," said Sony Zeth Libing.

According to him, the NTT government has no intention of destroying the two tourist attractions on the western tip of Flores Island.

He said the NTT government had no intention of shutting down the tourism sector in West Manggarai Regency by increasing the entrance fee to Komodo Island from IDR 200 thousand to Ro3.75 million.

"What is being done is to preserve the Komodo area. By maintaining tourism properly, the tourism sector grows rapidly," he asserted.

Sonny said the information that a number of investors had obtained permits to do business on Komodo and Padar islands was a baseless accusation.

"We emphasize that there is no brutal commercialization on Komodo Island. We will take firm action if there are those who brutally commercialize by building building facilities in the Komodo Island area," he said.

According to Sonny, the NTT government only allows the construction of supporting facilities in tourist areas such as bathrooms and toilets to make it easier for tourists who have paid a high price of Rp3.75 million to enter Komodo Island.

"In the master plan for structuring the Komodo Island area, there are no restaurants and hotels built in the Komodo Island area. We guarantee that this will not happen. We see that there is a shift in issues from conservation issues to environmental damage by certain parties who have received big profits from the business business. tourism," he said.