How Not to Close an Island: Tourism Lessons From Indonesia
Photo Credit: Pink Beach, Komodo Island. Closing islands for a rehab seems fashionable in Southeast Asia. Photo by Joachim S. Müller on VisualHunt / CC BY-NC-SA. Visual Hunt / Joachim S. Müller
Skift Take
Closing islands for a rehab seems fashionable in Southeast Asia. It shouldn’t be. Authorities must first assess options carefully, and by no means should premature announcements be made. Just look at the Komodo Island example and the wrong messages Indonesia has sent about one of its most unique tourism assets.
Asia is in a mood to close tourism islands. After Boracay in the Philippines and Maya Island in Thailand, Komodo Island in Indonesia may be next.
A decision on Komodo Island’s closure will only be made by this year's end, as our report below shows. But an announcement by East Nusa Tenggara Governor Viktor Laiskodat in November 2018 that the island would be closed for a year starting January 2020 has turned out to be premature. It has caused so much confusion and loss of business for tourism operators, not to mention loss of sleep for the island community involved.
At the heart of this debacle is Komodo dragons in the wild. They are rare — reportedly around 1,000 to 5,000 living today — and are found roaming freely on five islands in Indonesia. The most famous of these are Komodo Island, Rinca Island, and Padar Island, which are part of Komodo National Park.
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