July 1, 2021 — The Maritime and Port Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and Communications, hosted the APEC TPT-WG Maritime Expert Group (MEG) key theme meeting on June 30, and invited more than 100 participants from international organizations and APEC maritime experts to share and exchange views on the cruise industry of various countries under the COVID-19 epidemic. The current situation, and policies and measures to restart the cruise industry after the epidemic.

The Port Authority stated that the global tourism industry will be hit hard by the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020, and cruise ships are the first to bear the brunt of a densely populated and high-risk field with frequent personnel interactions. Many member bodies in the APEC region, such as Australia, Canada, the United States, Japan, Singapore, etc., are important cities in the cruise industry. As countries enter the vaccinations and the society is slowly unblocking, how to promote the recovery of the cruise industry and improve the cruise industry Resilience is a common policy challenge for all countries in the region. Therefore, as the vice chairman of the APEC Maritime Expert Group, the Port Authority actively promotes the expert group to conduct in-depth exchanges on the recovery of the cruise industry. It is hoped that the recovery of the regional cruise industry can incorporate innovation, resilience, and inclusiveness more widely. Elements.

Joel Katz, Executive Director of Oceania of the International Cruise Line Association (CLIA), who attended the meeting, said that the recovery of the cruise industry depends on the cooperation of the cruise industry, government, health and sanitation agencies, and ports. The international cruise industry has reached a consensus and will rely on passengers, crews and destinations. The health and safety are the priority considerations, and the flight will resume in stages. HIRASAWA Ko, Director of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan said that at the end of last year, Japan had issued a mid-term inspection report on cruise safety and health, and continued to conduct personnel training to improve the ability of cruise operations after the epidemic; Annie Chang, director of cruise operations at the Singapore Tourism Board, mentioned, As tourism demand continues to be strong, it is estimated that in the next one or two years, the cruise load factor will return to the level of about 80% before the epidemic. In addition, Tienchai Makthiengtrong, Director of Support Services at Laem Chabang Port, Thailand, also stated that Thailand is promoting the “Phuket Sandbox Model” and conditionally open travel services to fully vaccinated people.

Dr. Motohisa ABE, Chairperson of the APEC Maritime Expert Group, gave a speech thanking my country for hosting this conference and promoting the dialogue and exchanges of inter-regional cruise issues, and looked forward to the future under the APEC Maritime Cooperation Framework to carry out substantive cooperation plans on cruise issues. As the world’s new crown pneumonia epidemic is severe, this video conference not only demonstrates that I am actively striving to host APEC-related events and make contributions, but also helps to strengthen the exchange of experience between my country and APEC economies in promoting the recovery of the cruise industry. Sustainable development of the cruise industry.