| SOS. We need a cruise

ADVENTURE tours & activities operator Cairns Adventure Group has called for domestic cruising to resume to help stimulate the recovery of the visitor economy.

Director Roderic Rees said tourism has the capability to rebuild, but it would not do so in the absence of cruising or international travellers.

Supported by Carnival Australia & P&O Cruises Australia President Sture Myrmell, Rees said there was a strong case for allowing domestic cruising to restart as a first step to inject life into the hard-hit travel industry until the return of international visitors.

“While other industries are booming and the economy is two-thirds positive, that’s fantastic but you’ve got a pretty big industry that sells Australia to the world that is still on its knees,” Rees said.

“The public has been led to believe that everything is fixed and everything is fine but the hole left by losing the ‘internationals’ is so vast.

“Domestic cruising was already taking off and there were a lot of great forward bookings for the seasons ahead.

“People can jump on planes and travel together so I don’t see why domestic cruising can’t be on the cards,” he added.