Expedition cruises in Aus back on next month?

EXPEDITION cruising in Australian waters could be back on as soon as domestic travel opens up, Tourism Restart Taskforce member and Australian Chamber - Tourism Executive Chairman John Hart has confirmed.

The taskforce agreed on a timetable last week

(CW yesterday, pictured) which mapped the return of tourism in Australia, and was created following a meeting last Fri joined by Federal Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham.

It contained a note saying domestic expedition cruises were included in the dates for domestic travel, which would begin reopening in Jun and is proposed to fully restart in Jul.

“Where cruise is on small ships that are not leaving the confines of Australia then they should be considered domestic tourism,” Hart told Cruise Weekly, saying small expedition cruises of between 20 and 150 passengers, have a lower risk profile than that of a big ship operator.

“It’s basically a clear numbers game and you’re not going to be able to infect large numbers of people in that sort of environment,” he said,

“You’re getting 100 or so guests on board that are pretty well spaced and the operators are committed to having all sorts of COVID-safe practices in place.”

He highlighted expedition cruises which go around the Top End and call into the Kimberley as an example of a product which should be part of the domestic restart, emphasising it was an important part of the season and would be highly sought after by domestic tourists.

Hart said the six steps identified in the timetable could be used as “markers” for the industry and would be reviewed and adjusted based on ongoing health advice and as State Governments made further decisions.

He said establishing a timetable allowed for industry and government to identify what could be done to reach them.