Abstract
Cruise tourism is becoming increasingly popular worldwide. However, the health and safety of thousands of cruise tourists have been put in jeopardy due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The refusal of cruise ships calling has been the most significant reason behind the health hazards faced by passengers. Moreover, some coastal States have decided to close their borders, leaving passengers to their own fate in the case of a COVID-19 outbreak on board. Situation analysis contributes to demonstrating obstacles encountered in public health governance on cruise tourism. Information is collected from official websites of governments and international organizations to investigate the reasons behind the non-compliance of these countries with the International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005). Academic literatures showcase different views on the necessity of revising the IHR (2005). Statistical analysis is used to assess core capacities required by the IHR (2005) of the coastal States. Coastal States reserve their rights to refuse foreign cruise ships to enter ports and to prevent the persons aboard from embarking or disembarking so long as conditions under Article 43 are met. However, some foreign cruise ships were directly refused to call by various coastal States without scientific evidence. This practice stems largely from the high risk of COVID-19 outbreaks in cruise ships and the resulting burden from the cruise pandemic response. Compared with improving IHR (2005), especially its dispute settlement mechanism, helping coastal States to boost their core capacities is more conducive to solving the problem of cruise public health governance. The improvement of core capacities can be carried out from the aspects of surveillance of cruise ships and risk assessment, medical examinations on cruise travelers, cruise design and cruise tourism management.
Highlights
The popularity of cruise travel has increased rapidly in recent years
In 2020, the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and the resulting commercial cruise business suspension entailed a major blow to the cruise industry
As for dealing with non-compliance to the regulations, we suggest improving core capacities required under the International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005) rather than amending the Regulations
Summary
The popularity of cruise travel has increased rapidly in recent years. According to the statistics from the International Cruise Association (CLIA), in 2019, the global cruise industry welcomed nearly 30 million passengers, provided employment to 1.8 million people worldwide, and contributed more than US $1540 billion to the global economy. In February, the Dutch-flagged cruise ship Westerdam with passengers suspected of being infected with COVID-19 virus onboard (hereinafter “suspect passengers” or “suspect persons”) was refused to call at Manila in the Philippines, Kaohsiung in Taiwan, China, Ishigaki in Japan, Guam in the United States and Laem Chabang in Thailand (Travel Agent Central, 2020). In March, the Dutch-flagged Zaandam with passengers infected with COVID-19 virus (hereinafter “affected passengers” or “affected persons”) onboard was refused to call at Punta Arenas in Chile (Harris, 2020). Several cruise ships on which persons showed no symptom of COVID-19 were refused to call at ports, e.g., in March, the Italian-flagged Costa Fortuna at Phuket in Thailand and Penang in Malaysia (Insider, 2020), and the British-flagged Golden Princess at Acaroa in New Zealand (Lewis et al, 2020)
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