Over 45,000 people visited Komodo National Park in East Nusa Tenggara between January and April this year. “This number is dominated by foreign tourists, which reached 27,550 people, while local tourists amounted to 18,080 people,” the park’s administration head Dwi Putro Sugiarto told kompas.com.
The number is higher than in the same period last year, which was 38,147 visitors. The park also recorded an increase in the number of visitors in the past four months. In January this year, for instance, the park welcomed 8,626 visitors, meanwhile in February the number was 9,119 and continued to rise to 13,668 and 14,217 visitors in March and April, respectively.
Meanwhile, the head of Komodo National Park, Budi Kurniawan, said the recent terrorist attacks in East Java and Riau did not have a significant effect on the destination as it remains popular among tourists who are eager to marvel at the Komodo dragon.
Currently the average number of visitors to the park ranges from 150 to 200 people daily. Budi said he was optimistic the number would increase until the end of this year, especially with improvements in transportation and infrastructure. The park may also benefit from the upcoming IMF-World Bank annual meeting in Bali in October this year.
“Hopefully the international event can contribute more to the number of visitors to Komodo National Park this year. We’re also making some preparations to welcome the international guests,” said Budi.
Source&image: TheJakartaPost
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