The East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) Government does not monopolize the management of the Komodo National Park in West Manggarai District, according to Head of the province’s Tourism and Creative Economy Office, Zet Soni Libing.

“We have already had a system in which all tourism business actors are involved. Hence, there is no monopoly in the management of the Komodo National Park by the local government-owned PT Flobamor,” Libing noted in a statement on Monday.

The provincial government has applied a service system for tourists visiting Komodo National Park by involving various tourism stakeholders as tour operators, taxi services, and boats, hotels and restaurants.

The system also regulates entry fares for tourists to visit Komodo Island and Padar Island, he remarked.

The fares are Rp3.75 million per person and Rp15 million for a membership of four people.

The provincial government had revoked the Governor’s Regulation (Pergub) regarding the management of Komodo National Park, though it did not include the entry fares for tourists, he added.

PT Flobamor has set the fares that include 70-percent conservation costs, he remarked.

He deemed conservation as being highly important for survival of the Komodo dragon (Varanus Komodoensis) whose habitat is in the Komodo National Park area.

Bringing a lot of tourists to the Komodo National Park every day could damage the local ecosystem and cause stress to the world’s largest lizards, he emphasized.

Hence, the government is keen to regulate the future of the Komodo dragon and its ecosystem for future generations.

Source: Antara News