‘They simply cannot afford to come,’ NT Govt makes changes to its ban on cruise ships, industry says waste of time

CRUISE ships will only be able to operate out of Darwin if they have no more than 100 people on board, including crew, in a move labelled “a waste of time”

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CRUISE ships will only be able to operate out of Darwin if they have no more than 100 people on board, including crew, in a move labelled “a waste of time” by Top End Tourism.

Chief health officer Hugh Heggie announced the new cruise ship rules on Friday, including that only two cruise vessels will be allowed in Territory waters at one time.

Tourism Top End general manager Glen Hingley said the changes would not save the industry in Darwin, which is already at risk of losing significant business to more welcoming ports in Western Australia.

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Mr Hingley said he was dumbfounded how the government decided on a 100 person per boat limit.

“It has been made clear that this is not a viable number of people for these expedition ships to come to Darwin … they simply cannot afford to come,” he said.

“I’ve talked to these companies and they cannot come with these limits on passenger numbers.

“These changes do not make sense, they are a waste of time because they do not make it feasible for the companies to come to Darwin.

“Small shipping industry expedition cruises have been the foundation of our tourism sector for decades.

“These companies have spent millions in Darwin and this is all being thrown away.”

Mr Hingley said NT Health does not seemed to have listened to the cruise ship companies.

“They have ignored the facts that all passengers are Australian, they can’t have come from a COVID hot spot, they have to have been tested before joining a cruise, are tested daily on the cruise, and all the crew are Australian based,” he said.

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“Their COVID-19 management plans have been embraced by all states except the NT.

“For these Australian operated companies to be denied from bringing Australian travellers to Darwin is a real turning point for tourism. The NT has sent important business and tourism elsewhere.”