Cruise could restart by Dec

THE Tourism Restart Taskforce has approved its updated Timetable, which has plotted the resumption of local cruising from Nov, with domestic expedition voyages to be first.

These would be followed by cruises to New Zealand and the Pacific, hoped to take place as early as Dec.

The proposed Tourism Restart Timetable 2.0 was endorsed last Fri at a meeting of the Taskforce, which includes representatives from across the tourism and travel sector, including Flight Centre’s Graham Turner, The Walshe Group’s Jacqui Walshe, Ponant’s Sarina Bratton and Tourism Australia’s Bob East.

The Timetable calls for all state borders to be open by Dec, and allows Kiwis to enter the country without quarantine, with a possibility of reciprocal free entry by Australians into NZ once their election is finished next month.

The new iteration of the plan comes four months after the first version (CW 26 May) which aspired to have expedition cruising restart as early as Jun.

However subsequent waves of COVID-19 infections put paid to those hopes, with the latest Timetable setting out new expectations in the light of the current pandemic and easing of transmission rates.

The proposed Timetable “reflects what industry feels are realistic restart targets for governments and health authorities to consider, given the current COVID conditions,” according to the minutes of the Taskforce meeting obtained by Cruise Weekly.

The plan also envisages the Australian Govt allowing all domestic cruising to fully resume by Feb - more in today’s TD.