Fresh Breeze from the ‘Island of a Thousand Mosques’
Meanwhile, in 2021, until the third week of December, the total number of tourists visiting NTB was 344,731consisting of 341,158 foreign tourists and 3,573 foreign tourists. That number is predicted to continue to grow.
By
Ismail Zakaria
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KOMPAS/ISMAIL ZAKARIA
Tourists choose souvenirs at the Lombok Souvenir Lestari Shop in the Ampenan area, Mataram City, West Nusa Tenggara, Saturday (12/25/2021).
The hands of the clock showed 8:30 p.m. when employees at Nutsafir Cookies Lombok in the Gomong area, Selaparang, Mataram city, West Nusa Tenggara, on Saturday (12/25/2021), were busy with their respective tasks.
In the production room, employees, still wearing masks and gloves, deftly molded dough made from beans, such as coffee, belinjo and corn, into various forms of cookies.
Employees in the packaging area were no less busy. Starting from wrapping the cooked cookies, putting them in a bigger bag, gluing the large wrappers with special tools, to the final packaging in the form of boxes with unique designs of various sizes.
"Right now we are very busy preparing stock. In fact, they even had to refuse Christmas parcel orders," said Sayuk Wibawati, owner of Nutsafir Cookies Lombok.
Sayuk said she was busy in her shop preparing stock for the growing demand. Throughout December 2021, gradually, Nutsafir has sent around 7,500 boxes of cookies to the Sasaku gift shop in the Senggigi area.
This number has almost doubled compared to the same period last year, with an income of Rp 150 million.
The high demand has made the winner of the 2017 Halal Awards for the Best Halal Small and Medium Enterprises in Indonesia able to achieve a turnover of up to Rp 231 million this month. This number has almost doubled compared to the same period last year, with an income of Rp 150 million.
KOMPAS/ISMAIL ZAKARIA
Nutsafir Cookies Lombok employees pack grain-based cookies in their workspace in the Gomong area, Selaparang District, Mataram City, West Nusa Tenggara, Saturday (12/24/2021).
This condition, according to Sayuk, cannot be separated from a resurgence in tourism in Lombok, especially after two international motorcycle racing events, namely the World Superbike (WSBK) and the Asia Talent Cup (ATC), at the Mandalika International Circuit in November.
The Lestari gift shop in the Ampenan area also sees an increase in customers. Since the two international motorcycle racing events, the shop has always been a bustling tourist destination to buy souvenirs from the "Island of a Thousand Mosques", the nickname of Lombok. Customers come from a number of areas, such as Jakarta, as well as cities in Sumatra and Kalimantan.
To meet the stock, Akbar Habibie, the shop owner, collaborated with 15 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and rehired seven of his employees. In the past year, he has only relied on three employees. This decision was taken by Habibie because he is optimistic that tourism in NTB will continue to improve.
“I am 100 percent optimistic. Especially if you look at the NTB tourism agenda calendar for 2022, which almost every month has activities. Especially the MotoGP pre-season in February, then the MotoGP race in March, until later in November there will be WSBK and ATC," said Habibie.
Hard blow
The pandemic since March 2020 has hit NTB tourism badly. Based on data from the NTB Tourism Office, in 2020, the total number of tourist visits to NTB was 400,595 people, consisting of 360,613 domestic tourists and 39,982 foreign tourists.
KOMPAS/ISMAIL ZAKARIA
Sayuk Wibawati, owner of the Nutsafir business, which is engaged in food processing made from local agricultural grains in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) in Mataram, Thursday (1/7/2021).
Meanwhile, in 2021, until the third week of December, the total number of tourists visiting NTB was 344,731consisting of 341,158 foreign tourists and 3,573 foreign tourists. That number is predicted to continue to grow.
The number of tourists in 2020-2021 is very far from tourist visits in 2019, which were 3,705,352 people. Likewise with 2,812,379 people in 2018 and 3,508,903 people in 2017.
Munawir Gazali from Tukang Holiday, a travel business in Lombok, said that during the year-end holiday, he received orders from three groups of guests.
“This year is better than the previous one, which was quiet due to the regulations related to Covid-19 [social restrictions]. [The tourists will] go to Lombok, there is a family consisting of five people that I handle. In Lombok, they will go to Mandalika, Gili Trawangan and Pink Beach,” said Munawir.
KOMPAS/ISMAIL ZAKARIA
Tourists arrive at the Lombok Souvenirs Store in the Ampenan area, Mataram City, West Nusa Tenggara, Saturday (12/25/2021).
Lombok and NTB tourism are already on the right track to recover. However, it needs collaboration of all parties, including tourists, to fully understand that the pandemic is not over. Thus, tourist trips are still required to comply with health protocols. Happy Holidays!
