Global Financial Market Review

Tourism sector representatives on Tuesday urged the authorities to resume the “cruises to nowhere” tours and review the suspension mechanism imposed on cruises.

These tours have been put on hold since early this year, forcing some cruise lines to withdraw from Hong Kong or wind up.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with health officials, the chairwoman of the Travel Industry Council, Gianna Hsu, said there’s a high demand for these trips in Hong Kong.

“We got many calls from the customers. They want to know when the cruises will come back to Hong Kong. We have the confidence... you’ve noticed that ‘staycation’ in Hong Kong is quite [popular]. Hong Kong people love to [go on ‘staycation’] on the cruise,” she said, adding that it will take cruise lines three to six months to prepare for the resumption of services.

Meanwhile, a general manager at Miramar Travel, Alex Lee, said the cruise industry has been struggling to stay afloat amid the fifth wave of the Covid outbreak.

Going forward, he called on the government to consider relaxing the threshold on the number of Covid infections that will trigger the suspension of a voyage.