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PT PELABUHAN Indonesia III (Pelindo) Sheet Branch ensures there are no cruise ships that failed to visit the island of Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, amid the spread of the Corona virus in a number of countries.
According to the General Manager of Pelindo III Lembar Branch, Baharuddin, in West Lombok said as many as 20 cruise ships with an average number of passengers of 1,500-2,000 people were scheduled to visit Lombok in 2020. Of all the cruise ships scheduled to visit, no one has canceled officially planned his visit. There is information, but it is uncertain.
Although the Corona virus is spreading, he said, the visit of a cruise ship carrying thousands of passengers still went smoothly. Four ships have come to Lombok carrying thousands of foreign tourists from various countries from January to February 2020.
“Thousands of foreign tourists are still being examined by the authorities at the port to ensure they are in good health. But that doesn’t interfere with their comfort because the inspection process is in accordance with the standard,” he said.
He added, those involved in the inspection process, namely the port quarantine, immigration, customs, and Lembar Harbor management elements. There is no excessive inspection process. Still in the same standard as before the Corona virus case.
According to Baharuddin, cruise ship visits have an impact on the economy of the people on Lombok Island. For example, in terms of leasing land transportation to transport passengers to various tourist destinations.
However, he said, thousands of foreign tourists did not spend the night on the island of Lombok, because they had to continue their journey to other regions in Indonesia. To be able to get even greater benefits, of course there must be an innovation tour package that can be offered to cruise ship vendors so that foreign tourists who are taken want to stay longer in Lombok.
Pelindo itself, he said, has built the Gili Mas Port dock as a supporting infrastructure for a relatively large cruise ship berth. During this time, cruise ships that come must park in the middle of the sea waters, then lower passengers to land using a lifeboat.
“This is due to Pelindo III’s jetty at Port of Lembar making it impossible for relatively large-sized vessels to unload passengers. The construction of the pier of Gili Mas Port has been completed 100% and has been operated for cruise ships dock since November 5, 2019,” Baharuddin concluded. [antaranews/photo special]
