For the upcoming Christmas and New Year’s holidays, the Prambanan temple in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, is all set to increase its tourist quota.
On Tuesday, Taman Wisata Candi (TWC) Borobudur, Prambanan and Ratu Boko president director Edy Setijono have explianed that the quota would be increased to 7,000 tourists per day, or 60 percent of the normal capacity of the Prambanan temple, in the fourth phase of the new normal adaptation (AKB) operational trial.
“We’ve been running the third phase of the AKB trial with a maximum capacity of 5,000 tourists per day,” he explained as quoted by antaranews.com.
In July 2020, Prambanan temple officially reopened its gates to the tourists under stringent COVID-19 safety protocols.
Yogyakarta Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, who is also the governor of Yogyakarta, has taken the decision in July to reopen the tourism of the province partially. Now, the tourist destinations are allowed to function with a limited number of visitors, as the sultan has the anxiety that a full reopening might be dangerous for Yogyakarta.
The Prambanan temple in the first phase of its operational trial experienced 20 percent of normal capacity, accepting only 1,500 people per day.
Till now, Edy said that the operational trials have seen three phases and each started with a rise in tourist quota from 1,500 tourists to 5,000 tourists per day. He said that every phase went well.
While talking about the plan to raise the tourist quota, Edy mentioned that TWC management was still coordinating and consulting with the Yogyakarta COVID-19 task force for the fourth phase.
“The task force monitors every stage of the operational trials. So far, we have received good results, allowing us to receive the recommendation to increase our tourist quota.”
Edy said TWC management took the decision to perform trials in stages to make sure that health and safety standards were being implemented correctly in the temple area.
“We want to showcase [Prambanan temple] as a safe destination [while also] providing comforts to tourists,” he said.