New South Wales all set to welcome back cruise ships after two years of govt ban

Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Cruise ships are set to return in April after Tourism Minister Dan Tehan said the government was days away from finalising the announcement.

The industry has been banned since the Ruby Princess fiasco in March 2020 when NSW Health authorities allowed passengers to make a late-night disembarkation which led to at least 900 cases and 28 deaths.

The latest extension of the ban on February 11 under biosecurity emergency provisions prolonged the return of the industry until April 17.

However, Mr Tehan said an announcement was imminent after positive discussions with the Queensland and NSW governments.

“Hopefully on Wednesday we can announce that 17 of April is the day that cruising can begin again in this nation which is absolutely wonderful,” Mr Tehan confirmed.

“Obviously it takes a few weeks or months for the cruise industry to be able to plan to get the ships back, but we now see absolutely no reason why we can’t make that formal announcement.”

The Tourism Minister said he had been pushing for the return of the cruise industry for months, but now the final hurdle is for the “protocols on the state level” to be finalised within the next few days.

“My hope is Wednesday we’ll be officially announcing that it’s 17 April and that’s the last plank then we have tourism back to its brilliant best here in Australia,” he continued.

While Australians were able to return home in December last year with restrictions around isolation gradually easing, cruising has remained firmly shut.

The announcement should come as welcome news to the industry and major cruise operators, however there could be up to a three-month delay for ships to be fully equipped and repositioned in Australia.

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