JAKARTA, 10 November 2020: Access to Mount Merapi, a popular spot for domestic tourists, is off-limits to visitors as a precaution following the raising of the alert level at one of the country’s most active volcanoes.
According to an Antara news agency report the Tourism, Youth and Sports Office of Magelang district in central Java halted all “tourism activities at destinations in the Disaster Prone Area (KRB) III of Mount Merapi, including closing hiking trails to the mountain.”
Seismic activity increased in October with local officials recording around 29 earthquakes on the mountain daily plus 272 “multi-phase earthquakes.”
Placing the famous mountain off-limits for tourists is considered a precaution ahead of raising the alert level that is likely to prevent tourism activities until 30 November.
Indonesia remains closed to international tourists, but the country’s hotels have always relied heavenly on the domestic tourism market. The volcano is located around 30 km north of Yogyakarta, a city 500,000 residents. Merapi’s peak rises 2,911 metres above the surrounding forest and farmlands and is considered one the most active of Indonesia’s 130 active volcanoes.
