| NZCA update 15 Jul 21

WITH Kevin O’Sullivan CEO, NZCA – Opportunities in cruise: Chair Debbie Summers and I met with New Zealand Tourism Minister Stuart Nash two weeks ago, and it was an amicable discussion with time for us to talk through the options for the future regeneration of cruise.

Health is the biggest topic of course, and he undertook to liaise with his Cabinet colleagues to convene a group so we could discuss the considerable work that the cruise industry has successfully put into establishing health protocols that are already working very well (enabling the restart of cruise in much of the rest of the world).

The second major discussion topic is increased employment.

Cruise has been responsible for bringing many jobs to regional New Zealand, and the Minister asked about the creation of jobs on board ships.

For many years cruise lines have supported New Zealand’s Maritime Schools, offering career opportunities for officer cadets, and this will continue and expand.

NZCA works with New Zealand educational institutions to help train future leaders in all parts of the cruise industry.

In the new age of cruising we will see many more local employment opportunities.