Indonesia’s Komodo Island to shut down for tourists from 2020

Indonesia has finally confirmed that it will close the Komodo Island for the public from January 2020. This move comes in the wake of conserving the world’s largest living lizard species, the Komodo Dragon. This plan also involves moving out around 2000 inhabitants off the island.

Referring to this development, Deputy Governor of the province of East Nusa Tenggara Josef Nae Soi said as of now, authorities are talking with community leaders regarding ways to relocate the residents. It is believed that there are around 1700 giant lizards living on Komodo Island, but reports suggest that their numbers have been reduced in the past few years because of poaching and over-tourism.
Reportedly, the number of tourists arriving in the island has been booming in recent years, with the Komodo National Park registering more than 176000 visitors in 2018. Thus, in order to save the Komodo dragons from extinction, Soi said that the closure would last for at least 12 months. It is very likely that the island might reopen after that, but there is a possibility that it might be turned into a premium tourist destination.
Earlier, there were suggestions that the Indonesian Government might likely start imposing an entry fee of $500 to limit the footfall of tourists in the region, but Soi assured that this has not been decided yet.
The closure plan has made the locals upset there, as they earn their living by taking the visitors to Komodo National Park. Other than Komodo Island, there are other islands in the national park that are home to more than 1400 of the giant lizards including Padar and Rinca, which will remain open to tourists.