The number of New Zealanders taking cruise holidays has surged to more than 80 per cent of pre-pandemic levels but the recovery of the industry in this.
The rest of the world is back cruising, but not Australia
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Canada’s decision to welcome cruise ships back to its waters from November 1 has placed the Australian government under renewed pressure from the powerful global cruise industry, which has been in talks to resume cruising here for over 12 months.
Earlier this year, the local industry said it had strong signals from the government that Australia would be welcoming back a small number of foreign-flagged cruise ships with fully vaccinated crew, for local bubble cruises from March.
As of November 1, cruise ships can return to Canada, which is good news for the economies of harbour cities like Vancouver.
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Global cruise operator Scenic has axed all six of its June-August sailings in Western Australiaâs Kimberley region, with other foreign lines also cancelling similar planned local departures as the industry comes to grips with a prolonged hard border.
Delivering the Federal Budget on Tuesday night, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg confirmed inbound and outbound international travel would remain low through to mid-2022. From that point, a âgradual recovery in international tourism is assumed to occur,â the Budget papers say.
The Australian cruise industry, worth just shy of $5 billion a year to GDP, has been in talks with federal, state and territory governments for months, hoping for the green light to sail a handful of pre-quarantined ships with vaccinated crew into Australian waters for small-scale, Australians-only bubble cruises, for which they have sold hundreds of berths.