| ACA Update 01 Sep 21

WITH Jill Abel CEO, Australian Cruise Association – Spring into action: Congratulations to CLIA on
a successful forum last week.
Its proposal to Government to
discuss the cruise ship exemption
on a 30-day rolling basis versus the
current 90 days makes total sense.
This would give the additional
preparation time needed for the
cruise lines to deploy their ships
back into Australia.
We also recognise that our
members need time to get
prepared for cruises returning.
Many shoreside businesses are
operating on minimum staff, if
they are open at all, and some of
their team members may have
moved on.
A restart will require some
time, especially around making
destinations COVID-safe.
CLIA’s four phase plan for a cruise
restart also guarantees that taking
a cruise in the next year may be
one of the safest ways to holiday
as passengers will be assured that
their fellow guests, as well as all
staff members, are fully vaccinated
and have tested COVID negative
prior to boarding.
This is already happening
in many locations of course
where cruising has successfully
recommenced but just not in
Australia where our cruise industry
is still in the doldrums.
It makes you wonder if decisions
are being made with the federal
elections on the horizon – if so, the
tourism industry which supports 1
in 12 jobs, holds a good number of
votes worthy of consideration.
On this, the first day of spring,
it is more than time for our
Government to spring into action.