Komodo Island, Indonesia - Recent (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Coastal scene
2. Various of endangered Komodo dragon wandering on beach

Jarkata, Indonesia - Recent (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Lukas Adhyakso, conservation director, World Wildlife Fund in Indonesia:
"It is a worrying situation. What used to be traditional businesses now have moved to online and because of that it's very difficult to trace. But the government has also taken few steps including the investigation in the cyber-crime unit to try to mitigate the trading of wildlife specimens online."

Komodo Island, Indonesia - Recent (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
4. Various of ship
5. Various of tourists
6. Endangered Komodo dragon on beach

Jarkata, Indonesia - Recent (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Tedjo Iskandar, international tourism expert (partially overlaid with shots 8-9):
"As you know, many big investments are doing there. There are many new hotels. They invest in transportation. They invest (in) the boats, the lives aboard. They invest (in) the diving equipment. Years by years, the government of Indonesia is promoting for Wonderful Indonesia with the logo of this giant lizard, our lovely Komodo. And as we know overseas friends, they planned it about three to four years before."

Komodo Island, Indonesia - Recent (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
++SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
8. Ship
9. Various of endangered Komodo dragon
++SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
10. Various of endangered Komodo dragon

Indonesia is considering temporarily closing the popular Komodo National Park to tourists starting in August, in a bid to protect the endangered Komodo dragons.

Although the plan is considered to have a significant impact on regional income, experts say the move is important to boost the Komodo dragon population on the island.

Wildlife smuggling has been a huge concern in Indonesia. Police in East Java recently arrested five people accused of smuggling Komodo dragons and other protected animals on social media, supposedly for medicinal purposes.

"It is a worrying situation. What used to be traditional businesses now have moved to online and because of that it's very difficult to trace. But the government has also taken few steps including the investigation in the cyber-crime unit to try to mitigate the trading of wildlife specimens online," said Lukas Adhyakso, a conservation director of the World Wildlife Fund in Indonesia.

Amid the closure, many tourism agencies are worried that their businesses will suffer if the Komodo park is closed for too long.

In 2017, more than 120,000 tourists reportedly visited the park and between January to August of 2018, the total visitors to the national park exceeded 126,000 people.

"As you know, many big investments are doing there. There are many new hotels. They invest in transportation. They invest (in) the boats, the lives aboard. They invest (in) the diving equipment. Years by years, the government of Indonesia is promoting for Wonderful Indonesia with the logo of this giant lizard, our lovely Komodo. And as we know overseas friends, they planned it about three to four years before," said Tedjo Iskandar, an international tourism expert.

Tedjo said the problem is not tourism, but rather unsupervised locals that turn to smuggling.

Indonesia's Environment Ministry said the closure will not only help to increase the Komodo dragon population in the park, but also allow them to develop better tourism facilities, in return to contribute more income to the region.