Jim Byers' Signs of Hope Blog: New Zealand To Allow Cruising to Start + a Sydney Hotel Boom

Jim Byers’ Signs of Hope Blog: New Zealand To Allow Cruising to Start + a Sydney Hotel Boom

December 26, 2020 Jim Byers

Most of us can’t travel there now, but it’s good to see that things could soon start returning to “normal” Down Under.

New Zealand is becoming the next world destination to permit a limited resumption of cruising starting in February 2021. Maritime-Executive.com reports that the country’s Ministry of Health granted conditional approval to the French cruise company Ponant to restart cruises in New Zealand limited to local residents.

The company had been in dialogue for months with officials in both New Zealand and Australia hoping to open a regional travel bubble. While Australia remains closed to cruising, Ponant said it looked forward to the opportunities in New Zealand and believes these actions “takes us closer to the time when borders re-open and cruising resumes.”

Meanwhile, the website tophotelnews reports that seven new hotels with more than 1,800 rooms are set to open in Sydney, Australia in the new year.

“Two more properties, both of which are currently being built, are due to open in 2022,” a report on the site stated. “Meanwhile, four new hotels have been pencilled in for 2023; three are in the early phases of construction while one is in the last stages of planning. And eight further properties are in the works for 2024 and beyond, all of which are currently in the planning or pre-planning phases.”

Taronga Park Zoo, Sydney. JIM BYERS PHOTO

The site says that of those 21 new hotels, nine will be five-star properties and the other 12 four-star, which suggests that some folks are banking on luxury travel as a strong segment in the next couple years. Given that ordinary folks are perhaps struggling a good deal more in the pandemic than wealthy investors, that might not be a bad bet.

I’ve been lucky enough to visit New Zealand twice and Australia three times over the year. I was in Sydney for a month covering the 2000 Summer Olympics for the Toronto Star, and my wife and I then travelled around Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. I’ve also managed trips to the Outback to see Uluru and Kings Canyon, and also to Brisbane, Fraser Island in Queensland and the magnificent Lord Howe Island, a tiny speck of land in the Tasman Sea that’s part of New South Wales.

In New Zealand I’ve managed to play top golf courses such as Kauri Cliffs and Cape Kidnappers, and also to explore Auckland, Bay of Islands, Waiheke Island (a personal fave), Queenstown and the New Zealand Alps, the wine country around Wanaka, Rotorua and the hot springs, Napier (great Art Deco buildings), the Marlborough wine region, Christchurch and the beautiful, quiet northeast coast of the South Island, including a marvellous plane ride to see pods of whales and dolphins near Kaikoura and a visit to the former French colony at Akaroa.

Hope to make it back before too long. I still haven’t seen the south end of the South Island, or Wellington on the North Island, and I’d love to visit South Australia for the wine and wildlife, Tasmania (also great wines and gorgeous scenery) and Western Australia, where you can spend time in Outback-like national parks and, a few hours later, be swimming with whale sharks or watching amazing undersea life on the Ningaloo Reef. The remote Kimberley region in the northern part of Western Australia also is high on my list.