Gunung Bromo Tourist Numbers Fall: East Java

Gunung Bromo is without a doubt the most popular spot in East Java for travellers and explorers. A spectacular sunrise at dawn affords surreal views across the caldera and nearby plain, and, to the mountains beyond including Gunung Semeru.

The best time to visit this place is during the dry season of April-November. During this time the sunrise is at its most perfect, unclouded. Mountain people know as the Tengger live in roughly 40 villages in the area at different elevations.

Although some of the facilities are, shall we say, left a little to be desired, it is still an adventure climbing that mountain and witnessing the sunrise. And, it is that lack of decent facilities that have caused tourism numbers to decline as Wahyoe Boediwardhana explains:

Mt. Bromo Eyes Changes to Lure Tourists

Poor tourist facilities at Mt Bromo near Malang, East Java, have caused visitor numbers to drop substantially, an official said.

Joko Prihatno, head of the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park Agency, which manages the mountain, said that visitor numbers had fallen to 62,666 last year from an annual average of 177,570 in the 1990s.

Around 10 percent of visitors were foreigners, he said.
Joko said that the highest number of visitors was registered in 1997, when 198,166 people came to the park, 56,000 of whom were from other countries.

He said he attributed the sharp fall in the number of visitors to the poor quality and lack of innovation in the park’s tourism facilities, which had stayed the same for years.

Management of sanitation, transportation, product diversification and bureaucracy at the park was also very poor, he said.

The situation has been aggravated by the falling purchasing power of the public, coupled with volcano safety issues, travel warnings and the mudflow in Sidoarjo, East Java.

“We’ll try to make readjustments, especially in relation to the bureaucracy, and standardize operating procedures,” he said.
Joko said the agency would work with Bank BNI to change the nature of the park’s infrastructure. Up to Rp 15 billion (US$1.57 million) will be used in the renovation work, he said.

The renovations would include realigning vehicle routes and the types of vehicles allowed to drive through the park, the mapping of potential tourism sites, the standardization of transportation tariffs and visitor services at the three main gates.

The money will also be used to finance studies on the fast means of transportation to Mt Bromo from Malang. Currently it can take visitors coming from the city up to five hours to reach the area.

He said the East Java provincial administration was considering allowing light planes to serve the route between Bromo and Malang, which would allow visitors to save time, especially foreign tourists.

Joko did not specify a post-renovation visitor number target but said he was confident there would be an increase.

Forest Conservation director Banjar Yulianto Laban said Mt Bromo was regarded as one of the country’s few conservation areas with the potential to become a self-reliant park, financing all of its activities itself.

Wahyoe Boediwardhana