Australia Lifts Ban on International Cruise Ships After Two Years

Australia’s government today announced its ban on international cruise ships arriving and departing from Australian ports, a policy which has been in place for the past two years, will come to an end on Thursday.

In a media release, the Department of Health said that its decision to let the current order expire on April 17 was based on advice from medical experts. It wrote that the ban on large international cruise vessels entering Australia, implemented in March 2020 when COVID-19 officially became a pandemic, has, “been highly effective in preventing and controlling the entry, emergence and spread of COVID-19 in Australian territory.”

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“On the basis of medical advice and with the agreement of National Cabinet, lifting the cruise ban is consistent with the reopening of Australia’s international border, and shows that we have successfully navigated Australia’s emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Minister for Health and Aged Care, Greg Hunt, said.

According to Travel Weekly, the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) Australasia, which worked alongside the government to negotiate the cruise industry’s reopening, was gratified by the decision and plans to continue helping individual states establish their respective requirements for reopening ports.

"This is the best news we've had in two years, and it's especially welcome for the thousands of Australians whose livelihoods depend on cruising," Managing Director of CLIA Australasia, Joel Katz, said in a video message. "We are now confident we will see larger cruise ships returning down under in the not-too-distant future," he said, adding he hopes smaller ships will return even sooner.

Among the conditions outlined by the Australian government for cruising’s return is the requirement that all passengers be fully vaccinated, meaning that they’ve received two doses of an approved COVID-19 vaccine.

Over 94 percent of Australians over the age of 16 have been fully vaccinated with two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, and more than 12 million have also received a booster injection.

“In 2019, before the pandemic, Australia welcomed more than 600,000 cruise ship passengers across the border from almost 350 vessels,” Minister for Home Affairs Karen Andrews said. “The cruise ship industry plays an important role in our tourism sector and forms part of the Morrison Government’s plan to bolster our economic growth as we recover from the pandemic.”

“This is great news for the cruise industry, tourism, the broader economy and the Australians who love to take a cruise holiday,” said Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, Dan Tehan. “The resumption of cruising is another key step forward in the tourism sector’s recovery from COVID-19,”