Forest Fires, Mount Bromo Tourism Areas Are Completely Closed

Mount Bromo area caught fire (ANTARA)

The Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park Center (BB TNBTS) has decided to completely close tourist activities from all entrances to the Mount Bromo area due to fires that occurred in the Watangan Valley Savana Block, or Telletubies Hill.

Head of Administration Section of the TNBTS Center Septi Eka Wardhani said that the closure was carried out for the smooth extinguishing and security processes due to the fire that occurred on September 6, 2023.

"Mount Bromo tourism activities will be completely closed starting Wednesday night (6/9) at 22.00 WIB," Septi said as quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, September 7.

Septi explained that the closure of tourist access to the national park area due to forest and land fires in the savana caldera Tengger area was carried out until an undetermined time limit. In the past week, TNBTS BB has closed several tourist accesses due to forest and land fires.

At that time, forest and land fires that occurred in the national park area, including the Perum Perhutani area adjacent to the TNBTS, had been handled and then access for tourists was reopened. However, on September 6, 2023, forest and land fires occurred again.

"As a result of the fire that occurred in the savana caldera Tengger, the closure was carried out until an undetermined time limit," he said.

He added, for visitors who have purchased tickets via booking online, they can apply for a reschedule when Mount Bromo tours are reopened. Regarding the rescheduling procedure, the TNBTS Center will inform further.

"Visitors can do a reschedule when Mount Bromo tours are reopened," he said.

For information, Mount Bromo tourism access has four entrances, starting from Probolinggo, in Ngadisari Village, Sukapura District, and from Pasuruan in Wonokitri Village, Tosari District.

Then, from Lumajang Regency, as well as at the entrance to Jemplang, Poncokusumo District, Malang Regency. The closure of the tourist access was issued by BB TNBTS through the Announcement number PG.08/T.8/BIDTEK/9/2023.

The Mount Bromo area is one of the leading tourist destinations in East Java. In 2022, it was recorded that 318,919 tourists were visited, divided into 310,418 domestic tourists and 8,501 foreign tourists.

Of the total number of tourist visits to Bromo throughout 2022, there was Non-Tax State Revenue (PNBP) reaching Rp11.65 billion, which increased when compared to the previous year which was Rp4.85 billion.