AUSTRALIA’S Minister for Tourism Dan Tehan has confirmed he is “very keen to see cruising up and running again” as quickly as possible, with the 80% vaccination marker laid out in National Cabinet’s four-stage plan seen as a key threshold to allowing a resumption. Speaking to about 50 people from...
AUSTRALIA’S Minister for Tourism Dan Tehan has confirmed he is “very keen to see cruising up and running again” as quickly as possible, with the 80% vaccination marker laid out in National Cabinet’s four-stage plan seen as a key threshold to allowing a resumption.
Speaking to about 50 people from across the travel and cruise sector yesterday in a webinar (pictured) convened by Dave Sharma, Member of Parliament for Wentworth, Tehan noted the barriers in place.
“What we need is to get the approval of the individual states and territories and approval of the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC)…to get cruise ships up and running, above the current 100-passenger limit,” the Minister said.
“I can’t give you a firm date, but my hope would be once we hit that 80% vaccination rate across the nation then we should be in a position to look very seriously at getting international cruising happening again here above that 100 number,” he added.
“Ultimately, in the end, the AHPPC will have a say in it…I can’t speak for them as you could understand,” Tehan said, but noted that from his point of view he was keen for a restart.
“We keep pressing the case as to why now, with the knowledge of COVID and the COVID-safe environment that you can put in place, and particularly with regard to vaccination certification, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be looking and planning for the resumption of international cruising once we hit that 80% vaccination rate.
“We understand how important cruising is to this nation and we want to get that international cruising back as soon as we possibly can.”
