CLIA CEO Joel Katz appeared on my wake up coffee TV screen on Friday on Channel 7’s Sunrise, with the introduction by Natalie Barr setting the scene in that quarantine-free flights between Australia and New Zealand are set take off From April 19, but sailings are still banned and that the Australian cruising industry wants to be included in the Trans-Tasman travel bubble when it starts this month.
The report and interview with Joel Katz said that sailings have been shut down for more than 12 months following the outbreak of coronavirus and a restart date has not yet been confirmed by the federal government, but with now quarantine-free flights between Australia and New Zealand seat to take off From April 19, operators are now pushing for sailings across the Tasman Sea to be allowed, too.
Joel Katz added, “The same settings that have allowed the Trans-Tasman bubble to open are the settings that we’re saying can allow cruising to restart,”
adding “We can safely bring ships and their crew into Australia, initially to offer domestic cruising, and then expand that across the Tasman.”
He also said, “The cruise industry has been “doing a lot of work over the last year to make sailings safer for passengers and crew”, adding, “We have been working with health experts to look at every aspect of the passenger journey, from the moment they book until when they get home”, adding, When cruises are allowed to resume, social distancing would be enforced, passengers would be required to provide information for contact tracing, there will be enhanced sanitisation and mandatory pre-departure testing”, and “No person will get on a ship if they haven’t tested negative to COVID” and “Cruise operators are asking for a date when cruising will be allowed to resume.”
Joel Katz estimated 18,000 of the 25,000 jobs that will be reignited when the industry starts sailing again would be in Australia and said they include onboard staff, food producers, accommodation providers, entertainers, transport companies and travel agents.
Last month, Health Minister Greg Hunt extended the international travel ban a further three months until June 17, putting any cruising on hold until the second half of 2021, with at the time, “The Australian government continues to work closely with the cruise industry to develop a framework for the staged resumption of cruise ships in a manner that is proportionate to the public health risk”.
You can watch the video by clicking below and let us know whether you think Joel Katz, CLIA and the industry is taking a strong enough stance with the government as their appeals to date which are clearly not achieving the required restart result, seeming very “nice” and rather gentle and not at all strong, in stark contrast to the USA and click below for more background.
Carnival CEO very disappointed with US CDC guidance
Is CLIA getting tougher…at last!
Watch what Joel Katz says on Sunrise
A report by John Alwyn-Jones, Cruise Editor.
.jpg){kind=tracking}