After nearly a year of travel uncertainty, good news
recently came from our Federal Tourism Minister with
positive comments on cruising and domestic travel
once the vaccine is on track. Introducing the Federal
Government App and Proof/Passport of Vaccination
should lighten up border closures and change the way
we travel both within Australia and Overseas for some
time.
AIRLINES: Our larger Domestic Airlines Qantas and
Virgin are now both allowing changes without fees due
to Covid-19 border changes. International Airlines are
still regulated by our Federal Government concern with
bringing our Aussies home.
CRUISING: Domestic/Australian Small Ship Cruise
Lines such as “Coral Expeditions” have long started
operations on the Great Barrier Reef, successfully
sailing to Tasmania visiting many East Coast Ports,
now getting ready for the Kimberley season. Small
ships are coming from New Zealand plus chartering
boats and yachts along our Great Barrier Reef and The
Whitsundays is now very popular. The introduction
of small luxury international ships from cruise lines
such as Ponant and APT should start sailing to the
Kimberley and West Coast ports next month. APT’s
recently purchased “Caledonian Sky” has it’s first
sailing in April 2021 out of Cairns visiting many Great
Barrier Reef Islands up to Thursday Island including
Cooktown sharing much World War II history and is
nearly full. Overseas sailings have successfully started
in Europe and out of Singapore with no new cases with
lots of screening, testing plus fresh air cleaning air-con
systems, now part of our future with cruising.
TOURS: Once the vaccine has been made available
to all of Australia, tour operators will need proof/
passport plus testing 14 days prior to travel to join a
tour. There is so much to learn about Australia. With a
growing demand Australia-wide, many wholesalers are
marketing and selling smaller Australian businesses
seeing growth in local tourism during this trying time.
These companies also allow tour credits to be used
toward cruises around our Australian coastline and/or
Air Cruising to the Antarctica.
In the meantime, our Tourism, Hospitality, and Travel
Industries continue to suffer when money once spent
on travel now goes into the Building Industry. Jobkeeper
has helped Travel Agents “pay back commissions”
when refunding clients to keep good faith and loyalty.
With Jobkeeper ending this month, we once again face
tough times. Being part of this ‘everchanging industry’
for many years, I am grateful to live where we are in
Queensland, Australia during this time as
we wait and watch our planet heal.
Lisa Leary,
P: 0402 836 093
e: [email protected]
