Tourist spots in Indonesia are preparing several measures to welcome visitors for New Year's Eve celebrations. 

The Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park in East Java, for instance, requires visitors to show negative COVID-19 antigen test results prior to entering from Wednesday to Jan. 3, 2021.

To curb the spread of COVID-19, the park has also reduced its capacity to 1,001 visitors per day or around 30 percent of its normal capacity. The rule started on Monday and will be in place until Jan. 8, 2021.  

The Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park is among the most popular tourist attractions in East Java. In 2019, the park welcomed 690,831 visitors. 

The national park was closed in March to contain the spread of COVID-19 but reopened in August. 

Meanwhile, Lawang Sewu Museum in Semarang, Central Java, has prepared a cashless payment system, aiming to minimize physical contact and allowing visitors to implement health protocols.

Read also: People neglect health protocols during holiday: Report

Visitors can now purchase entrance tickets through e-commerce Blibli, as well as e-wallet apps Ovo and LinkAja. 

State-owned train operator PT KA Pariwisata president director Totok Suryono added that the museum had also been equipped with an electronic gate (e-gate) system to support contactless systems and provide visitors with a practical, safe and comfortable experience. 

Lawang Sewu, which was built in 1904 as the headquarters of the Dutch East Indies Railway Company, saw an increased number of visitors during the Christmas holiday.

According to kompas.com, the museum welcomed 11,997 visitors on Dec. 23-27, 1,763 of whom were children. 

The government has warned about the impact of people traveling for New Year’s Eve amid rising COVID-19 cases.

Despite robust health protocol campaigns across the country, data shared by the national COVID-19 task force shows that travelers have tended to neglect safety regulations during long weekends. 

The task force’s data and information technology head, Dewi Nur Aisyah, said in a virtual press conference on Nov. 4 that it had received more reports of health protocol violations during the latest long weekend from Oct. 28 to Nov. 1 compared to normal days. 

The reports were submitted by field officers, which comprise the Indonesian Military (TNI), the National Police (Polri) and Public Order Agency (Satpol PP), in 407 regencies and cities across the country.

Based on the data, there were 600,000 daily cases of people violating health protocols at tourist spots during the long weekend. Task force data also shows that over 1 million people at tourist spots were being monitored for violating health measures. (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.