THE coronavirus might have brought tourism around the world to a standstill, but one area of travel appears to be already gearing up for the post-pandemic period: Cruises.
Cruises liners were among the tourism sector’s first to be hit by the outbreak, and Britain’s Diamond Princess cruise ship made international headlines when it became one of the first of many cruise ships to be quarantined after a rapid spread of infection among passengers.
Between port restrictions, national lockdowns and a fear among travellers of being quarantined on a boat with infected passengers, the past few months have been some of the worst in cruise history.
And yet the world’s third-biggest cruise line is already eyeing its expansion to new cruise ports when travel resumes.
Despite many of its ships being docked, Norwegian Cruise Line has announced plans to add new routes and ports for the years 2021 to 2023.
According to cruise giant, the post-pandemic period will bring more than 20 new destinations to its international routes, among them Greenland, Brazil’s Fortaleza and Salvador de Bahia as well as the Japanese coastal cities Nagoya, Beppu and Himeji.
Some 100,000 cruise ship passengers around the world are still trapped at sea as of mid May, according to a report in the Miami Herald. – dpa
