Minister Says Tourists Start to Visit Gili Trawangan, Lombok  

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said tourists were currently starting to visit tourism destination Gili Trawangan, Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara after numerous devastating earthquakes hit the region.

“As what I said previously, don’t be so negative demanding [the government] to declare a status of national disaster [for Lombok],” said Luhut at the Finance Ministry office, Jakarta, Thursday, September 6.

Luhut said he had previously mobilized teams to the region to monitor the condition and that according to his team, the government did not need to issue the national disaster status in Lombok Island.

Read: Lombok Still Experiences Numerous Aftershocks Until This Day 

“National disaster may trigger travel warning. So, if travel warning was issued [by other countries], the insurance company will not cover it,” said Luhut. In line with the increasing arrivals of tourists in Gili Trawangan, the minister added that the government would continually hold attractive events to lure more tourists.

Luhut further mentioned that the organizing committee head of the IMF-World Bank Meeting expressed his faith to still establish the event in Nusa Dua, Bali in October 2018.

In addition, the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) also reported that the structure of the earth's plate, which caused the earthquake, stop at the end of Lombok Island and so it would not reach Bali.

Earlier, the government opted not to level-up the disaster status in Lombok into a national disaster despite many parties demanded so. The disaster management was carried out by the regional government but the president issued a presidential decree on the support of the central government for Lombok Island.

CAESAR AKBAR