Singer and TV presenter Jane McDonald has lent her support to struggling travel agents and the wider industry in a live television interview.
Appearing on BBC One’s The One Show to promote her new album on Monday, former cruise ship entertainer McDonald was asked about the prospects for the cruise sector and acknowledged the issues faced throughout the travel industry.
She said: “[Cruise] is such a massive industry and people love cruising. Once you’ve done a cruise and you’ve fallen in love with that ship you will go for years and years.
“It is devastating what’s going on to the travel industry in general. It’s the cruise industry, all the staff on the cruise ships, the airlines, the travel agents.
“The travel agents are going through a terrible time as well so all we can do is live in hope. We just have to get through this, we don’t know how we are going to but we just have to.”
McDonald was speaking after a feature on cruise ships currently moored off the Dorset coast during the pandemic pause in operations.
One local ferry owner, who is a former deputy captain of Aurora, has created a lucrative revenue stream over the summer months taking passengers for tours around the vessels.
When asked about some people’s negative perceptions of cruise and an element of “snobbery”, McDonald said: “There is a cruise for everyone, you can cruise anywhere. [I] love it.”