Labuan Bajo tourism authority assesses post-quake recovery

Acting BPOLBF President Director Andhy Marpaung said here Sunday that the meeting provided an update on post-quake tourism and gathered industry players’ concerns, needs and challenges.

“We collected information on destinations, accessibility, supporting facilities and tourism businesses. The data will guide collaborative measures to support tourism recovery and sustainability,” he said.

Marpaung said the forum also helped BPOLBF assess tourism trends following the disaster, which affected several areas across Flores Island.

He stressed that close coordination with tourism businesses was needed to identify concrete measures allowing tourism activities to resume safely.

As part of recovery efforts, BPOLBF will ensure affected destinations are declared safe and ready after verification and monitoring before reopening and resuming promotional activities.

“We are mapping destinations based on monitored conditions, identifying sites with minor to major damage, those still closed, and destinations declared safe and reopened,” Marpaung said.

He said the mapping results would be issued in press releases informing the public about tourist destinations that are available to visit.

Budi, a representative of AYANA Komodo Waecicu Beach, said the hotel had resumed normal operations, with occupancy remaining stable and its structures and facilities functioning properly.

He thanked the Tourism Ministry for regularly providing safety information about tourism in Labuan Bajo through social media.

The forum also resulted in an agreement between BPOLBF and the West Manggarai Tourism, Creative Economy and Culture Office to issue a statement on tourism safety and readiness after the earthquake.

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Translator: K. Kaha, Tegar Nurfitra