Katz chats govt, pathway to return
CRUISE Lines International Association (CLIA) Australasia Managing Director Joel Katz has reinforced his organisation is constantly engaging the Australian and NZ govts.
Speaking in a webinar hosted at The Travel Industry Hub yesterday by Cruise Weekly Publisher Bruce Piper, Katz said the process of involving governments in the industry was happening, but that it was taking time.
“We are working with the government to present the work the cruise industry is doing, we are taking the time the cruise ships are not operating to work out what the protocols will be upon their resumption,” he said.
“We are engaging with both the Australian and New Zealand governments, we’re putting our position, we’re getting responses, the process is happening, it’s just happening very slowly.”
Katz also spoke to the unique problems the cruise industry faced in restarting operations.
“The challenge we have because of the scale of our industry is, where restaurants and gyms are starting to open, cruise is all of that put together.
“I often get asked why cruise has not put forth a set of protocols like the airline industry has, and my response to that is it is a much more complex process.
“We really need to see more momentum around travel recovery.”
Katz said CLIA was engaging each individual cruise line and working through the operational issues they each faced in order to collate an underlying industry standard all lines would need to comply with.
He also outlined why it was so important to the cruise industry in particular for governments to profile what a path to resumption may look like.
“It is very hard for people to plan, not least in the cruise industry... the lead times to get back up and running are significant.
“By having a pathway, a timeline, even if it has to change due to health concerns, etc, everybody has got something they can work towards.
“It is the whole supply chain... from the fruit and vegetable grower to the winemaker, everybody is impacted by the cruise industry not operating.”
Plans suggested to governments include proposals for intrastate, interstate and trans-Tasman cruising, allowing for a cruise restart based on various border opening scenarios.
A replay of the webinar can be viewed at www.thetravelindustryhub.com.