Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said in a statement that the centre would monitor tourist attractions, amenities and accessibility, The Jakarta Post reported. This includes ensuring accessibility through the airport, seaports, bus terminals, roads and basic infrastructure.
Indonesia’s Tourism Ministry has reactivated its Tourism Crisis Centre (TCC) following the earthquakes that struck Lombok on Sunday (August 19).
Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said in a statement that the centre would monitor tourist attractions, amenities and accessibility, The Jakarta Post reported. This includes ensuring accessibility through the airport, seaports, bus terminals, roads and basic infrastructure.
Next steps involve approaching airlines, airports and state-run air navigation company Airnav to increase the number of aircrafts and airport operational hours and slot times for planes taking off and landing.
Passengers through the Lombok International Airport have started to increase, according to the airport’s general manager, I Gusti Ngurah Ardita.
Currently, airport passenger figures stand at 4,500, compared to the regular numbers between 5,000 and 6,000, Yahya said.
Additionally, the TCC will also monitor amenities related to room conditions and capacity and dangerous locations. Checks will be conducted at attractions to determine if places remain safe to visit.
"Although Lombok is still in the emergency response period since the first earthquake, its tourism has to recover immediately since we will not see the results of our promotion today right away. Since Lombok is also one of our priority tourist destinations, the ministry has to conduct special monitoring," added Yahya.
Sunday night's tremor occurred on a different fault and was not an aftershock of the magnitude 7.0 quake on August 5 that killed 460 people, damaged tens of thousands of homes and displaced several hundred thousand people in Lombok.