Prambanan temple in Yogyakarta plans to increase its tourist quota for the upcoming Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

Taman Wisata Candi (TWC) Borobudur, Prambanan and Ratu Boko president director Edy Setijono said on Tuesday that the quota would be raised to 7,000 tourists per day, or around 60 percent of Prambanan temple’s normal capacity, 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.

Prambanan temple officially reopened to tourists in July under strict COVID-19 health protocols.

Yogyakarta Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, who is also Yogyakarta’s governor, decided in July to partially reopen the province’s tourism. Tourist destinations are now allowed to operate with a limited number of visitors, as the sultan feared that a full reopening would be too risky for Yogyakarta.

In the first phase of the operational trial, Prambanan temple operated at 20 percent of normal capacity, accepting only 1,500 people per day.

Edy said that so far, the operational trials have gone through three phases and each started with an increase in tourist quota, going from 1,500 tourists to 5,000 tourists per day. Every phase went well, he added.

Speaking about the plan to increase the tourist quota, Edy explained 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.” 

Read also: Several Yogyakarta tourist destinations reopen

Edy said TWC management decided to conduct the trials in stages to ensure that health protocols 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. 

TWC also trained its staff to ensure that the implementation of health protocols followed the standard operating procedures (SOP) of new normal tourism. 

In addition to providing training, Prambanan temple also requires tourists to comply with the 3M health protocols, menggunakan masker (mask-wearing), mencuci tangan (hand-washing) and menjaga jarak (social distancing). 

Prambanan temple is among the most popular tourist attractions in Yogyakarta. 

At the temple area, visitors can expect to see three major temples built for three Gods in the Hindu faith, Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma, alongside other temples worth exploring.

Entrance tickets for the temple are now available online, priced at Rp 50,000 (US$3.47) for adults and $25 for foreign tourists.  (jes)

 

Editor’s note: This article is part of a public campaign by the COVID-19 task force to raise people’s awareness about the pandemic.