Your next cruise could be Down Under: Australia to welcome back international cruises
Australia will welcome international cruises back next month, for the first time in more than two years.
“On the basis of medical advice, the Australian Government will not renew the ban on international cruise ships arriving and departing from Australian ports, when the current determination expires on April 17,” a joint statement from the country’s ministers of Home Affairs, Trade, Tourism and Investment, and Health and Aged Care said Tuesday.
The current ban has been in place since March 2020, when Australia first locked down for the pandemic. The country’s COVID restrictions have been among the toughest in the world. Vaccinated tourists were allowed to visit for the first time in February.
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“Today’s announcement is a huge breakthrough for more than 18,000 Australians who depend on cruise tourism, including travel agents, tour operators, food and produce providers, entertainers, port workers and many other industry suppliers,” Cruise Lines International Association Managing Director Australasia Joel Katz said in a statement, noting that suspension of sailings cost Australia’s economy $10 billion over the last two years.
To minimize COVID risk when cruises resume, passengers will need to be vaccinated and undergo enhanced pre-arrival screening, among other precautionary measures. Additionally, individual states and territories, who may have their own guidelines, will have a say in their readiness to receive cruise ships.
Carnival Australia’s President Marguerite Fitzgerald said discussions are underway with states to finalize health protocols and guidelines.
“Overseas experience, where hundreds of cruise ships have returned to service, more than seven million people have cruised and more than 80 countries have reopened to cruise ships, has confirmed that cruising can operate safely in the new environment with comprehensive health protocols that can support the return of cruising here,” Fitzgerald said in a statement.
More than 600,000 cruise passengers visited Australia in 2019, according to the nation’s Minister for Home Affairs Karen Andrews. More than 94% of Australians over age 16 are now fully vaccinated. The country reported more than 706,000 COVID cases over the past 28 days, according to Johns Hopkins University and Medicine data.
“I can’t wait to see our cruise terminals once again filled with arriving international passengers, getting this important industry ship-shape and back out on the water once more,” Andrews said in a statement.
As of Tuesday morning, Carnival, Celebrity, Holland America, Princess and Royal Caribbean were booking Australia sailings starting this October and Norwegian was booking for December.