Local fishermen in Cilacap, Central Java, have reported that the number of tourists visiting Nusakambangan Island has doubled over the past couple of months after the government carried out two rounds of executions of convicted drug traffickers on the prison island.

The fishermen, who offer boat rides to visitors from Teluk Penyu Beach in Cilacap to Nusakambangan, claimed that their incomes had increased in recent weeks, particularly on weekends.

'€œWe are obviously happy about the increase in the number of tourists. We can now earn some extra income, as many of us could not go fishing during the current high tide season,'€ local fisherman Wartono, 40, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

The 210-square-kilometer Nusakambangan Island is located around a kilometer south of Java, the country'€™s most populated island. Nusakambangan, home to a number of high-security prisons, is known as the Indonesian version of Alcatraz, a former prison island in San Francisco, the US.

Earlier this year, Nusakambangan received extensive local and international media coverage when the government carried out two rounds of executions on 13 convicted drug traffickers on the island. Most of the convicts were foreigners, including four Nigerians and two Australians.

Martono said the number of people visiting the island had started to increase in early May, several days after the government completed the second round of executions.

'€œThe visitors said they were curious to see Nusakambangan. They said they only knew about the island from news coverage and wanted to know where the executions took place,'€ he said.

There are around 100 fishermen at Teluk Penyu Beach using their jukung (wooden boats) to offer return trips to Nusakambangan. Each boat can carry around 10 passengers.

Martono said in recent weeks he had operated around 10 trips daily, up from four prior to the executions.

Another fisherman, 35-year-old Kasimin, said he also sometime served foreign tourists. '€œWe are happy to take them on our boats because they usually pay more than domestic tourists,'€ said Kasimin, smiling.

According to Kasimin, the cheapest tour package to Nusakambangan is priced at Rp 20,000 (US$1.50) per person, during which passengers are taken for a 10-minute ride to the eastern part of the island, where they can enjoy the famous Pasir Putih Beach and visit several caves.

'€œAfter the tourists feel satisfied [with their visit], they can just text us anytime and we will fetch them,'€ he said.

Tourists can also take a cruise around the island from the eastern to western tip, covering a distance of around 30 kilometers. The three-hour trip costs every passenger Rp 500,000. Visitors, however, are not allowed to land on the western part of the island that holds the prison compounds and can only see it from their boat.

Irma, 40, a visitor from Jakarta, said she and her family wanted to visit Nusakambangan after they learned about the prison island from recent television coverage. '€œI used to picture Nusakambangan as a scary prison island, but some of my friends told me that its beaches are really beautiful. This is the time to prove it,'€ she said.

Separately, Cilacap Deputy Regent Ahmad Edi Susanto said Nusakambangan could serve a double function as a prison island and a major tourist destination if managed well, given its extraordinary nature. '€œWe, however, don'€™t have full authority to develop the tourism potential on Nusakambangan, as it is managed by the Law and Human Rights Ministry,'€ he said.

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