TOURIST RISES, BPOLBF ASKS NUMBER OF AIRLINE SEATS TO LABUAN BAJO TO BE ADDED

THE IMPLEMENTING Agency for the Labuan Bajo Flores Authority (BPOLBF) has proposed additional seats for passengers on special planes to Labuan Bajo in line with the increasing number of tourists to this tourist destination.

“Currently, the flight per day is only 500 seats, so we are discussing with the airlines to increase the number per seat so that the number of tourist visits to Labuan Bajo will increase,” said BPOLBF President Director Shana Fatina from Kupang, Monday (4/04).

She continued, with the concessions provided by the government to travellers and also to tourists, the impact would be very significant for tourist visits to Labuan Bajo. As a comparison, before the COVID-19 pandemic, usually per day the number of airplane passengers arriving at Komodo Airport, Labuan Bajo reached 1,500 people.

“Normally before the pandemic, the number of airplane passengers arriving at Komodo Airport was 1,500 people. Now, we are slowly submitting only 1,000 per day,” she said.

However, her party will also monitor the movement of passengers arriving at the airport. Because it is currently in the fasting month so that tourist visits from domestic tourists will definitely decrease. But the possibility of foreign tourists coming will be higher, so his party will monitor tourist visits from Bali to Labuan Bajo.

Shana is optimistic that tourist visits, both foreign and domestic, will continue to increase in Labuan Bajo in the next few months. Moreover, he added, the government has allowed music concerts.

“This certainly has a positive impact on NTT, especially Labuan Bajo as a super priority tourism destination,” she added.

Furthermore, Shana said, based on data on passengers departing and arriving at Komodo Airport from January to February 2022, there was an increase.

Overall, during the two months, the total number of passengers coming and going through the airport reached 57,516 passengers. With details, the passengers who arrived reached 26,788 people and those who departed through the airport reached 30,728 people. [sources/photo special]