Jakarta, IO – West Manggarai chapter of the Indonesian Travel Agent Association (Astindo) chairman Ignasius Suradin said Labuan Bajo is packed with tourists because the admission ticket to Komodo National Park is set at only Rp5,000 for domestic visitors and Rp150,000 for foreign travellers.
“There have been quite a number of bookings coming in. There are our partners from Europe, and as soon as we sent the news about the updated tariff to Komodo National Park, they immediately booked a trip to Labuan Bajo and Flores,” Ignasius said, reported Detik, Tuesday (20/12).
Tourists have thus far been waiting for confirmation about the price of tour packages to Labuan Bajo. He said the certainty about the tariff is good news and raise hope of more tourists visiting Labuan Bajo. With so many requests for tour packages after the tariff update, Ignasius is optimistic that Labuan Bajo will see a lot of tourists next year.
“Komodo National Park is a state’s and community’s asset. We can’t let it controlled by certain individuals or groups. We are optimistic that there will be more tourists visiting in the future,” said Ignasius.
Read: Komodo National Park Authority: Rp3.75M is not entrance fee
There was a lot of flak concerning the discourse to increase the admission fee to Komodo National Park to Rp3.75 million. It was eventually cancelled as per Government Regulation 12/2014.
According to the new regulation, the admission ticket is Rp5,000 per person per day for Indonesian tourists and Rp150,000 for foreign tourists from Monday-Saturday. This will increase to Rp7,500 and Rp225,000, respectively, on Sunday and public holiday. (rr)