TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - West Nusa Tenggara Tourism Promotion Agency (BPPD NTB) head Fauzan Zakaria said the Tourism Ministry earmarked Rp20 billion to support the tourism recovery in Lombok and Sumbawa. The budget was set for the funding until December this year.

“Tourism Ministry accommodates almost 90 percent of [tourism] recovery program,” said Fauzan during Media Gathering in Dapoer Sasak, Saturday, Oct 13.

The tourism in Lombok was almost paralyzed following the 7.0-magnitude earthquake on August 5. More than 2,000 aftershocks occurred for a month since then, with the quake magnitude over 6.2 on Richter Scale.

Read: BNPB Lombok Quake Recovery Costs Rise to Rp26tn

One of the tourism programs–part of the rehabilitation efforts, was the family trip every weekend. Visitors could explore tourism destinations in Lombok along with the public figure.

To date, the tourist arrivals have returned to normal. Flights from Jakarta and other big cities such as Bandung, Semarang, Yogyakarta, Solo, Surabaya, Banjarmasin, and Makassar were packed by passengers, and the seat occupancy reached up to 85 percent.

Many tourists started to flock Gili Tramena (Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno, and Gili Air). Fauzan targetted the tourism in the disaster-hit regions would back to normal by the end of 2018. As of date, “at least, 50 percent tourists have come to Lombok for trips.”

West Lombok administration would also establish Mekaki Marathon on October 28, 2018, in a bid to lure tourists to visit Lombok, NTB. The National Military (TNI) also planned to hold TNI Marathon with a target of 10,000 participants on November 4.

SUPRIYANTHO KHAFID