The world is “moving from globalism to extreme nationalism”, which will make the resumption of cruise operations very tricky, according to the former boss of Azamara.
Ex-president and chief executive of the Royal Caribbean-owned line, Larry Pimentel, said co-operation and co-ordination between governments and “real leadership” was needed to get the sector back up and running swiftly.
Speaking on a Travel Weekly webcast, he said: “We are going to go from globalism to extreme nationalism and there is a real point of concern here. Even as the EU countries open-up, you have Greece for example saying it’s going to open this date, but not to this country, and not to that country.
“There is a European Union but the EU does not govern the local health issues. That’s up to the local countries. So now we have issues of borders, what’s going to be open; what’s going to be closed, and that lack of clarity means the runway here is very long, because everybody does their own thing.
Pimentel pointed to an “inconsistency of policy and procedures” between governments, noting that cruising crosses many different countries, often on one voyage. “That’s beyond cruising,” he said. “It’s about the local governments coming to a consistent policy, which everybody can adhere to, and everybody wants to adhere to.”
He said the lack of clarity and consistency around the world meant deployments and timescales were “uncertain”.
“Where does the ship go? How long will it stay? Are these countries open and my goodness gracious in the United States right now, we’re talking about a second wave [of the virus].
“So the complexity here is deep but we must communicate and get together. There are fundamental challenges that need to be sorted. It requires collaboration on the part of a lot of different people.
“And for God’s sake, we need leadership. We need leadership to step up collectively together or it’s all threatened. And frankly, that’s not a positive thing. That’s a negative thing.”
He noted that cruise lines had announced various end dates to their pauses in operations; some until November 2020, some a little later than that, and some even until 2021 but was confident travel would eventually make a full return and praised its power to “connect people” and “kill prejudice”.
“This is not a good situation for retailers, for travellers, or for humanity as a whole,” he said. “And yet, history has shown us, if we look through the annals of time, that there is always a reverse. The pendulum pulls way out and then it comes back to a balance that will happen. I believe it’s a two-and-a-half to three-year process.”
Pimentel said the problem was the current unknown.
“When will the ports re-open? Which countries are open? What’s the clarity of policy? How can retailers articulate it if the cruise lines don’t even know what it is? It’s all dependent on all these different countries [making a decision]. So this is a serious domino effect. But the one thing that’s at the core of this, is all of us benefit by tourism,” he said.
“We have an industry that’s powerful, not only for human connection, but for the way we make a living and the way the economies run. Some countries’ GDP is all about tourism. So eventually, the light bulbs are going to go on and people are going to come to a solution.”