Home of Komodo dragons ponders steps to curb overtourism

Komodo, Indonesia: The smartphone-wielding tourists inch closer and closer, yet the giant lizard doesn't move. Nearly three metres long and surely weighing 100 kilograms, it's lying lazily in the shade like a relic from a bygone era.

But then it betrays irritation by briefly flicking its tail. The tourists immediately back away - copping a selfie with this reptile just isn't worth the risk.

Some 1,300 Komodo dragons (Varanus komodoensis) inhabit the small Indonesian island of Komodo. They're also found on a few neighbouring islands. The world's largest lizards, they're powerful predators that will eat almost anything, including each other. Occasionally they attack humans.

Komodos are at the centre of a tourism controversy on their namesake island, which covers 390 square kilometres. In July, authorities in East Nusa Tenggara province said the island would be closed for one year from January 2020 to stop tourists from interfering with the lizards' natural behaviour and cut down on poachers targeting them and their prey, including deer, buffalo and wild boar.

The closure wouldn't have affected other areas of Komodo National Park, a cluster of islands in East Nusa Tenggara listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

In September, however, Indonesia's Ministry of Environment and Forestry announced that the controversial plan was off, saying the Komodo dragon population had remained relatively stable since 2002.

But confusion over park access remains. In 2018, the provincial governor proposed hiking the entrance fee for international visitors to 500 US dollars. Recent reports say a 1,000-dollar "annual membership" fee is in the works even though the vast majority of visitors just want to see the lizards once. "Premium" members would be allowed to visit Komodo island, and "non-premium" ones the other islands in the park, where Komodos also live.

Johanes Rawi, 54, is the head of the ranger station on Komodo island in Indonesia. Photo: Christoph Sator/dpa

Foreigners currently pay around 10 dollars for entry, and Indonesian citizens just a small fraction of that amount. This doesn't include the cost of the sea journey to Komodo island from Labuan Bajo, the tourist centre of the neighbouring island of Flores, which takes about an hour even by speedboat.

Despite its remoteness, Komodo island is very popular with tourists and widely seen as an example of the "overtourism" plaguing attractive destinations around the globe in the age of low-cost airlines and social media. 

Among them are several former "inside tips" in Southeast Asia, such as the Philippine island of Boracay. Hailed as one of the most idyllic islands on Earth, it was closed to tourists for six months last year for rehabilitation. Thailand's Maya Bay, the stunning cove where the 2000 Hollywood film "The Beach" was shot, has been off limits since June 2018 to let its natural resources regenerate and isn't expected to reopen until mid-2021. 

When a cruise ship stops at Komodo island, "800 people arrive at once," says Johanes Rawi, 54, head of the ranger station there. "We can never keep that many under control." 

More than 176,000 people visited Komodo National Park in 2018, 121,000 of whom were foreigners, according to official statistics. The numbers have been increasing by 20 per cent year-on-year in the last five years. Hardly any of the visitors spend the night on Komodo island - with the exception of several guest houses, there are no accommodations.

For their sustenance, the day trippers have a single cafe.

There's often talk of building a luxury resort on the island. Where that could lead is on display in Labuan Bajo. Once a small fishing village, it has burgeoned with the influx of backpackers and has an airport that can handle 1.5 million passengers a year - with further expansion planned. Its first five-star hotel opened in September 2018.

Anke Winkler, a 52-year-old German, has operated a diving school in Labuan Bajo for many years with her husband. "The town has changed a lot," she says. "Lifestyle tourists with money are now here. Of course the environment suffers when more people come."

The back-and-forth over whether Komodo island will be closed to tourists irritates her. "It's typical politics," she says. "First they say one thing, and then another. No one knows what will happen."

At the moment it appears that nothing will change on January 1, which seems to suit the locals just fine. About 1,700 people live on the island, where fishing used to be the main source of livelihood. Now it's tourism.

At a market selling hand-carved wooden Komodos and T-shirts, all of the vendors say they're happy that the island will stay open. But they take a dim view of plans to make it a pricey destination.

"Hardly anyone will come then," remarks wood carver Werli Suwandi, 20. "One person can't buy enough wooden dragons to make it worthwhile for me [to carve them]."

The authorities, for the time being, aren't making official statements. It's said they plan to cap the number of "premium" tourists to Komodo island at 5,000 a month. "Non-premium" ones would only have access to the neighbouring island Rinca, which also has Komodos - more than 1,000 of them - but smaller than the ones on Komodo island.