‘ಕೆನಡಾವು ಕೋವಿಡ್ ಪ್ರಸರಣವನ್ನು ತಡೆಯಲು ಭಾರತದಿಂದ ನೇರವಾಗಿ ಆಗಮಿಸುವ ಪ್ರಯಾಣಿಕರ ವಿಮಾನಗಳ ಮೇಲೆ ಹೇರಿದ್ದ ನಿರ್ಬಂಧವನ್ನು ಸೆಪ್ಟೆಂಬರ್ 21ರವರೆಗೆ ವಿಸ್ತರಿಸಿದೆ’ ಎಂದು ಫೆಡರಲ್ ಸಾರಿಗೆ ಸಚಿವಾಲಯವು ತಿಳಿಸಿದೆ.
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Hoping to sail to Alaska this summer? The popular cruise destination may miss a second season because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The cruise industry, already struggling because ships have been idled for almost a year, was dealt another blow. Canada recently banned large ships from its waters until February 2022.
Canada is a necessary
stop for most passenger vessels bound for Alaska. (Almost all large cruise ships are foreign-registered and are banned by maritime law from transporting passengers between ports in the U.S. That means they must stop at a Canadian port if they’re sailing from Seattle, for instance, to Alaska.) The no-sail order is “essential to continue to protect the most vulnerable among our communities,” according to a tweet by Canada’s minister of transport, Omar Alghabra.
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Because of U.S. federal law, cruise ships that come to Alaska have to also visit a foreign port, which is where Canada comes in. The government’s decision on Feb. 4 means Alaska, which got about 60 percent of its summer visitors in 2019 from cruise ships, will almost certainly miss out on another crucial cruise season, barring a waiver of the law or a change of Canadian heart.
Now, destinations and businesses that were hoping to finally scrape together a few months of revenue after the last ships departed in 2019 are left to figure out once again how to survive.
Canada Bans Cruises Until 2022, Blocking Alaska Trips
Bloomberg 2/10/2021 Jonathan Levin and Christopher Palmeri
(Bloomberg) Canada is extending its ban on cruise ships through February 2022 because of Covid-19, effectively shutting down popular summer trips to Alaska for another year.
The prohibition will allow authorities to focus on the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine and limit the spread of new variants, the government said in a statement Thursday.
The decision is a setback for an industry trying to get back in business after being in dry dock for almost year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Alaska is one of the industry’s top destinations it attracted a record 1.33 million cruise guests in 2019 and the ban will also affect New England cruises that travel north to Montreal and other stops.