Airlines have offered flights without a destination in recent weeks, in the midst of the coronavirus crisis.
The concept was picked up by Singapore cruise lines and immediately met with great success, while drawing criticism.
To satisfy customers in search of tourism and earn a little revenue in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, airlines are offering flights without a destination.
This initiative, which created controversy for its ecological impact, has nevertheless been emulated.
In Singapore, shipping companies have launched cruises without a destination.
And the concept immediately met with great success ... while arousing strong criticism.
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"The safest vacation option"
The Singapore authorities gave the green light last week to this cruise project without a goal or destination, in order to revive the tourism sector stricken by the coronavirus crisis.
In just a few days, the concept became a commercial hit, noted the American media
CNBC
.
This success amply justified by the boss of one of the cruise companies, for whom the important thing is not the destination but the journey.
“It will be the safest vacation option,” he says, emphasizing that cruise ships are, in themselves, complete recreation centers.
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50% reduced capacity and negative test required to board
From a health point of view, everything has been planned according to the authorities.
A special certification, called CruiseSafe, has thus been put in place.
To obtain this sesame, ships must not transit through any port other than Singapore.
Their capacity must be reduced by 50% and a full ventilation system must be operational, while passengers can only board after a negative test for Covid-19.
But these measures were not enough to calm the critics.
Marcie Keever, an official of the Friends of the Earth NGO in charge of oceans and ships, warned against "the possibility of seeing outbreaks of Covid-19 contamination appear" on liners.
The activist also pointed out the negative impact on the environment that a restart of cruises would have.