| NZCA update: Are we making progress? 20 May 21

WITH Kevin O’Sullivan CEO, NZCA: Why does bringing back cruise have to be so slow?

The health protocols are in place, the ships can be made ready, passengers will board as soon as they’re given the green light, and Aussies and Kiwis are flying across the Tasman right now.

The cruise industry is happy to collaborate with government to make it happen, but it feels like its slipping away from us because our respective governments think it’s all too hard.

In the meantime more local businesses will go down the gurgler because cruise is an integral part of their seasonal income.

Now it looks like immigration has become an issue too — in Australia cruise ships will have to be crewed by Australians — where will those crew come from?

In New Zealand the kind, caring people that have looked after us for years are suddenly persona non grata in favour of non-existent locals — we already have close to full employment so there is no pool of local labour keen to fill those migrants’ positions.

We need urgent rational planning and action, otherwise the international cruise economy we have worked so hard for will indeed slip away.