How collaboration helped restart the UK cruise sector

31 Mar

For those of us who have sorely missed our cruise fix for the past year, this summer marks a hugely positive departure.

With at least a dozen cruise lines taking to domestic waters, it’s incredibly encouraging to see the UK is helping to lead the global cruise restart. All of us in the sector, including the cruise lines themselves, have a culture and ethos geared towards cooperation and collaboration.

From the start, CLIA created a set of new working groups to bring together true subject specialists in their field. They have proved suitably informative throughout, helping us plan and deliver key targets. And they still meet weekly to ensure our approach continues to be consistent and effective.

Our travel agent partners are also a critical part of the success of the industry, and their unwavering input, engagement and support has proved invaluable.

Outside of the industry, providing open communications with external stakeholders has been essential. We have developed our relationships with a number of public bodies and representatives, including the Maritime Minister and Department for Transport, and both continue to be demonstrably supportive.

We have similarly built and maintained relationships with key groups including ports, health authorities, international bodies and other government departments.

The overall response from everyone across the industry has been the right one, with the health and safety of passengers, crew and destinations an operational imperative for all CLIA members. With support from the UK government and public health, the industry has developed enhanced health protocols that go beyond any other travel sector operating today. This has meant adopting a ‘multi-layered’ approach, with multiple industry-leading enhanced protocols including mandatory testing, pre-boarding health screening, social distancing, ventilation system developments and contingency procedures.

We have worked incredibly hard to develop enhanced protocols in cooperation with our partners and, as a result, the entire cruise experience will be redefined - while preserving what makes a holiday onboard absolutely unique.

By adopting this approach, we have seen the phased restart of domestic cruise, and set a clear direction for the restart of international cruise. We are not there yet, but positive news from across the world, and in the UK, helps us make the case for Brits to once again travel overseas to start sailing.

And the domestic cruise programme offers a real alternative for those of us in the UK, with a wide choice of ships, lines and itineraries on offer. What better way to get the nation onboard again than by offering such incredible choice – the ships range in size from smaller boutique vessels to luxurious floating hotels, several of which normally operate elsewhere across the world, and also include four brand new vessels. There are port options across the UK and a wide range of local tours and excursions to take advantage of.

Furthermore, as holidaymakers begin to head onboard, the cruise industry can now play its part in the national economic recovery. The domestic cruise restart is a great boost to the 88,000 people who are directly employed in our sector. In addition, thousands of suppliers, many of whom are small and family-run, rely on cruise for their business including hotels, local transport operators and taxi firms.

The epidemiological situation has thrown some bumps in the road – but our collaboration has been pivotal in sharing best practice, presenting a unified voice and moving forward as one industry.

We can proudly lay claim to the fact that cruise still offers something for everyone and, thanks to all of our efforts, this year it’s on our doorstep. We will continue to work together to make sure that international travel isn’t far behind.