How many hotel guests does Labuan Bajo and NTT receive?
Labuan Bajo is Flores’ western tourism gateway, but its accommodation capacity and NTT’s hotel-guest totals measure different things and should not be treated as one visitor count.
Editor: Mursyid Sonsang
· 2 min read
Labuan Bajo is the main western gateway to tourism in East Nusa Tenggara, but official data show that its role should be understood alongside the wider province’s hotel market. BPS recorded 499,877 guests in star-rated hotels and 456,250 in non-star-rated hotels in NTT in 2023, while provincial data identified 146 hotels and 2,792 rooms in Labuan Bajo and surrounding areas in 2024.
Why is Labuan Bajo important to tourism in Flores?
Labuan Bajo is the capital of West Manggarai and a transit point for visitors travelling to Komodo National Park and other destinations on Flores, according to the NTT Tourism and Creative Economy Office. The office describes it as the western entry point for tourists arriving in NTT, particularly from Bali and West Nusa Tenggara.
How large is the accommodation base?
There were 146 hotels with 2,792 rooms in Labuan Bajo and its surrounding area in 2024, according to data cited by the NTT Tourism and Creative Economy Office from the Labuan Bajo Flores Tourism Authority. The figure covers accommodation capacity, not the number of visitors or occupied rooms.
How many hotel guests does NTT receive?
BPS recorded 499,877 guests staying in star-rated hotels in NTT in 2023, with an average stay of 1.74 nights. Non-star-rated hotels recorded 456,250 guests, with an average stay of 1.54 nights, according to BPS.
Do those provincial figures equal Labuan Bajo arrivals?
No. The BPS figures cover NTT as a province and distinguish between star-rated and non-star-rated hotels; they are not a Labuan Bajo-only count. The separate Labuan Bajo figure measures hotels and rooms in the destination area, so the two datasets describe different parts of the tourism system.
What does this mean for travellers and businesses?
The official figures point to two different planning questions: how much accommodation exists in Labuan Bajo and how many guests are recorded across NTT’s hotel categories. They should not be combined into a single visitor total, because the sources use different geographic coverage and measures.
Sources
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