The new coronavirus has disturbed several social structures and one of the most affected, without a shadow of a doubt, was the tourism sector. Speaking more specifically of transports, sea transport was one of the most affected. This is because, when Tourism and Health must sail together, it is essential to adopt rigid security protocols for the safety of passengers and crew. In other words, only three days after the World Health Organization marked Covid-19 as a pandemic, the American Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an alert suspending all the cruise operations planned for the country, a measure quickly adopted all over the world
Under the alert of “high risk of propagation of infectious disease from person to person”, there was nothing else possible but an immediate suspension of all activities, which was important for the containment of the vírus, since, according to a research by the American newspaper “Miami Herald”, only 3346 cases of the disease in passengers of 72 cruises (28% of the fleet all over the world) were registered. This necessary measure also provoked a freeze in a Market that deals with US$ 45 billion yearly, transporting over 20 million passengers. With regard to Brazil, the loss was also huge, with the interruption in a sector that the year before had moved R$2 billion and transported over 460 thousand passengers.
And the recuperation of the sector, although optimistic, will be done little by little and with no forecast for full operation in 2021. This is because CLIA (Cruise Lines International Association) has been studying a “unanimous” security protocol that can be used by every ship and in all the destinations, thus guaranteeing the health of travelers and crew, since, while a hotel, for instance, follows the sanitary measures of the country it’s in, cruises need to comply to the utmost to the demands of the Health organs in order to be able to circulate in more than one territory.
For those interested in embarking on a cruise, there’s good news: CLIA’s security protocols cover 100% of the operation, from reservations to embarkation, accommodation in cabins, circulation on ship and disembarkation. It’s worth noting that all cruises are obliged to count on doctors and nurses on the ship, responsible for attending to everyone aboard 24/7. These professional are responsible not only for treating people, but are also responsible for reporting any type of disease diagnosed to public health authorities at every port of call.
*Restrictions and clearances with regard to the operation of cruises in 2021 may suffer alterations according to the incidence of new cases of Covid-19. Always search for updated information.
