Tourism Actors Rejection Appears To Mass Strike, Komodo Island Ticket Prices Will Be Evaluated

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JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto said the government will evaluate the price of entry tickets to Komodo Island which reaches Rp3.75 million per person starting August 1, 2022 related to the strike action of the Association of Tourism Actors and Individual tourism actors in Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT).

"We will evaluate it later and later we will see again because there is indeed conservation and rehabilitation being carried out," said Airlangga as quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, August 4.

According to Airlangga, the government also still has to consider restrictions on tourists who will visit one of the Super Priority Destinations in Indonesia.

"In addition, there are restrictions on the number of (tourists)> Of course we will pay attention and we will discuss it with the technical ministry," Airlangga added.

On Saturday (30/7), the Coordinator of Tourism Actors and Individual Tourism Actors of West Manggarai Regency, Rafael Taher, said that the association of tourism actors in West Manggarai Regency agreed to stop all types of tourism services in the National Park Islands and in all tourist destinations in West Manggarai starting 1 -31 August 2022.

The tourism actors consist of tour boat owners, land transportation service providers, restaurant and hotel owners, photographers, tour guides to culinary business actors.

This action is a form of protest against tourism actors in West Manggarai related to the policy of increasing the entrance fee for Komodo National Park by the NTT provincial government. The association also assessed that PT Flobamor, a Regional-Owned Enterprise (BUMD) owned by the NTT government, had a strong monopoly on the tourism sector in West Manggarai.

At Komodo Labuan Bajo Airport, there is no public transportation that takes prospective passengers to the airport. In addition, government-owned official cars and buses are no longer available in the passenger pick-up area.

Previously, the Head of the NTT Provincial Tourism Office, Zeth Sony Libing, said he was optimistic that tourists would still come to visit Labuan Bajo, West Manggarai Regency because the tourist sites on Rinca Island and other islands around Komodo Island are not subject to tariffs as applicable on Komodo Island and Padar Island. .

According to him, the government has a big vision behind the imposition of the new tariff, which is to keep Komodo and its ecosystem preserved forever.

He said the NTT government did not want the new tariffs to be applied when the ecosystem on Komodo Island was already starting to be damaged.