Hundreds of tourism workers have gone on strike on Tuesday, August 2, 2022, over rising entrance fees to Indonesia’s Komodo Dragon National Park. For the government responsible for this increase in price, the new tariffs should make it possible to preserve the habitat of these symbolic lizards of the country. But tour guides, hosts and restaurateurs denounce the exorbitant prices, which will lead to a drop in visits and thus their incomes. On Tuesday, the price of entry to Komodo and Padar islands, the main ones in the Komodo National Park, increased by 18 to 3.75 million rupiah (about 247 euros) per person.
“At least 700 employees will participate in the strike until the end of Augustsays Servianus Setyawan, a tour operator in Labuan Bajo, a town that serves as the entrance to the park. We support Komodo conservation, but please offer reasonable numbers so that we can protect Komodo dragons and people whose livelihoods depend on tourism can live. Clashes took place between the police and the protesters on Tuesday. Local media reported dozens of arrests as Tourism Minister Sandiaga Uno invited the strikers to hold talks with the government.
” We conveyed all our opinions and rational arguments, but the government did not listen Servianus Setyavan laments. Victor Lyskodat, governor of East Nusa Tenggara province, of which the national park is a part, said the new price would be set despite protests.
220,000 visitors in 2019
About 3,300 Komodo dragons live in Indonesia, which can reach three meters in length and kill large prey with a single venomous bite. Komodo National Park is located in the Virgin Islands, west of the Indonesian province of Nusa Tenggara, in the south of the country. Classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, they attracted around 222,000 visitors in 2019. In subsequent years, visitation numbers have fallen by three-quarters due to Covid, disrupting the tourism industry.
Indonesia has already been at odds after several reversals by authorities between announcements to close the island to protect the lizards in 2019 and plans to build a “Jurassic Park” next year at a whopping five million dollars. tourism project. A photo of a Komodo dragon with the face of a construction vehicle, in particular, caused outrage on social networks in 2020.
Source: Le Figaro
