REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The government, represented by the Coordinating Ministry of Maritime Affairs, will hold a coordination meeting to discuss plans to close Komodo Island for one year from tourist visits. Komodo Island is a part of the Komodo National Park.

Deputy Coordination of Human Resources, Science and Technology and Maritime Culture of the Maritime Affairs Coordinating Ministry Safri Burhanuddin, who was contacted in Jakarta on Tuesday, said that the meeting would be held next week after the Ministry of Environment and Forestry conducted an internal discussion on the matter.

"We will immediately hold a coordination meeting by inviting all relevant parties, including the Ministry of Environment and Forestry as well as the Ministry of Tourism, because it is said that the plan to close the park would practically have an extraordinary impact on (tourists) who make plans to visit Labuan Bajo," he noted.

Komodo at its natural habitat in Komodo Island, Komodo National Park, East Nusa Tenggara.

According to Burhanuddin, the closure of Komodo Island, which is one of the main attractions of Labuan Bajo tourism destination, East Nusa Tenggara, needs to be carefully planned, because, although it aims to preserve the endemic species of Komodo dragons, the area is also one of the main tourist destinations in the country.

"The Komodo National Park is an area managed by the LHK Ministry; of course, they know the urgency. The NTT government also has its territory, while the Tourism Ministry certainly has certain targets to attract tourists. So there needs to be a comprehensive decision regarding this issue," he remarked.

Burhanuddin mentioned one step that can be adopted, namely by maintaining it as the national park area while still serving as a tourist attraction, in addition to regulating the number of visitors to suit their carrying capacity.

"In the past, Coordinating Minister Luhut Pandjaitan proposed that the islands of Komodo and Rinca be limited. So the idea is not to close it but to limit the carrying capacity of the island, because the main thing is how dragons can survive," he explained.

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