The impacts of COVID-19 on the cruise industry based on an empirical study in China

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on the entire cruise industry. This research aims to provide an understanding of the impacts of COVID-19 on the cruise industry from various stakeholders and recommend corresponding post-COVID recovery strategies for building a sustainable cruise industry. By conducting 22 semi-structured interviews in Shanghai, China and analysing the interview data using content analysis, this research finds five aspects of the impacts that are worth discussing, namely social, health and well-being, regulatory, operational, and financial aspects. Key findings include the impacts of different stakeholders’ opinions, the problems existing in the current cruise industry, and the potential for future improvement. Recommendations and recovery strategies are proposed to mitigate the negative impacts. This research not only explores the impact of COVID-19 on cruise tourism and fosters recommendations in the most fast-developing region (China) but also facilitates researchers and policymakers to understand the effects of the pandemic and proposes future risk mitigation strategies.

1. Introduction

Cruise shipping was once a fast-developing sector of maritime transport, with an increase of 66.8% over the past decade and carrying around 17.8 million passengers in 2009–29.7 million passengers in 2019 to various destinations worldwide [11]. The year 2020 was expected to reach a record high, with an estimation of 32 million passengers [10]; however, the cruise industry was turned upside down due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, with the voluntary suspension of cruise operations worldwide in March 2020. This devastating risky event brought the industry to a standstill. During the first quarter of 2020, one-fifth of the global cruise ships reported COVID-19 cases [52]. According to the report ‘2022 state of the cruise industry outlook’ released by the Cruise Lines International Association, though several cruise lines are gradually returning to service, the entire cruise industry has not been fully resumed yet [12], [9]. The above information indicates that COVID-19 is the worst crisis in the cruise industry to date.

Unlike many other transportation industries that support livelihood necessities (e.g., airlines, oil tankers), the cruise industry is about leisure and vacation, leading to the result that it is prone to be affected by this planet-wide crisis more severely [38], [52]. As argued by Silva [52], studying COVID-19's impacts on the cruise industry is a work in progress, and many questions remain in this area. The COVID-19 pandemic can be regarded as a "black swan" event [58] – an unprecedented event that is outside the realms of known-known and known-unknown and would change the future world. As a consequence, cruise lines' future marketing strategies and passengers' cruise purchase decisions may change accordingly [25], [44]. Therefore, it is necessary to study the extent to which COVID-19 has affected cruising and its relevant cruise businesses. In addition, understanding the impacts of COVID-19 can also help to build a resilient cruise industry by proposing corresponding strategies to mitigate these negative consequences and building a risk management framework in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic [26].

An initial review of the literature shows that most of the existing studies examine the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on cruise lines and cruise passengers, with very limited research to study the impacts on other stakeholders. This situation is more salient in the Mainland Chinese (hereafter as Chinese) cruise market. To fill this gap, this research provides an in-depth understanding of the impacts on the Chinese cruise industry from practitioners in Mainland China (hereafter as China) by discussing the impacts from five aspects i.e., social, health and well-being, regulatory, operational, and financial impacts. Moreover, practices and strategies to handle these negative impacts are proposed accordingly. The research findings are significant to practitioners, scholars, and decision-makers to change their marketing and risk management strategies in the future post-pandemic era.

The remainder of this paper is organised as follows: Section 2 discusses the existing literature on the impact of COVID-19 on the cruise industry. Section 3 presents data collection and data analysis for the empirical study. Then, empirical results and discussions are presented in Section 4 to explore and investigate impacts and corresponding strategies. Finally, conclusions with suggestions for future research are provided in Section 5.

2. Literature review

The literature review shows that the existing studies in relation to COVID-19 impacts are mainly undertaken from the perspectives of cruise ship crew members or cruise passengers. For the studies that are focused on the impact on cruise ship crew members, Radic, Luck, et al. [45] studied the psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on cruise ship members stranded at sea. Many interviewed cruise ship members were experiencing anxiety, stress, fear, sleep disturbance and depression. They feared not being able to see their families and friends, losing control of their lives or being unable to provide financial support. These crew members also experienced a lack of social cohesion and a lack of socialising with others due to social distancing. To manage the mental disorders of cruise ship members, they suggested employing psychologists onboard and arranging outdoor activities onboard. Radic, Law, et al. [43] conducted interviews with eight cruise ship employees and eight cruise passengers. They identified several aspects that cruise lines need to make improvements from the COVID-19 pandemic, including developing contingency plans for respiratory infectious disease outbreaks, promoting transparent communication to the public when these events, and educating cruise passengers about how to stay healthy onboard cruise ships. Hebbar and Mukesh [21] examined the impact of COVID-19 on seafarers' rights to shore leave, repatriation, and medical assistance. According to their research, 95% of the surveyed seafarers experienced denial of shore leave, and 37% of the surveyed seafarers felt that the efforts by cruise companies toward repatriation matters were lacking. Their research revealed that the well-being of seafarers would likely remain vulnerable to breach, and this situation should be improved in the future. Pauksztat, Grech and Kitada [42] found that the COVID-19 pandemic deteriorated seafarers’ mental health and increased their feelings of chronic fatigue through its impact on seafarers’ work and life, the length of employment and family concerns. Their research also indicated three measures for mitigating these negative effects, including enhancing onboard peer support, ensuring the availability of external support, and providing a reliable internet connection.

Several studies conclude that the COVID-19 pandemic has a negative impact on passengers' cruising willingness. These results show that the cruise industry needs to put more effort into building confidence in the safety of cruising in the post-pandemic era. Pan et al. [40] studied consumer perceptions of the cruise industry during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results showed that financial-affected consumers have lower trust in cruising than non-affected consumers amid this pandemic; thus, financial-affected consumers require more crisis communication and detailed information from cruise lines to build trust. In addition, they found that more than 50% of consumers are willing to cruise if they receive discounts. Therefore, offering a deep discount could increase consumers' willingness to cruise. Holland et al. [25] explored the impact of COVID-19 on cruise passengers' risk perceptions. They found that passengers' willingness to cruise is more negative due to the pandemic. Also, passengers tend to prefer smaller ships and desire to cruise closer to home. In addition, passengers expect cruise lines would maintain higher standards of cleanliness and make changes to ship designs to improve ventilation in the future. Uğur and Akbıyık [61] studied the impact of COVID-19 on the global tourism industry from December 2019 to March 2020 from the perspectives of tourists. They found that tourists (including cruise passengers) decided to cancel their trips immediately and started to discuss insurance issues on almost the same day as the emergence of COVID-19. They also argued that it may take a longer time for all tourists to return to their previous mobility, as tourists still feel insecure and become accustomed to staying still and local. Holland et al. [26] found that infectious disease outbreaks influenced passengers' willingness to cruise. They found that passengers' risk perceptions and fear of becoming infected with COVID-19 were amplified through the spreading of information about the virus on cruise ships. Both first-time and repeat cruisers were negative about cruising in the future. Therefore, the cruise industry should disseminate information efficiently to improve consumer confidence, develop strategies to overcome the dangerous image of cruising and establish prevention plans.

The COVID-19 pandemic reveals the void of international law framework in coping with disease outbreaks on cruise ships. Liu and Chang [36] discussed the problems in the responsibilities of a flag state - a country that a ship flies its flag [46] and a port state - a country that has the authority to inspect foreign vessels entering its national ports [46] under the current international conventions and laws and provided solutions. They identified the problem that there is no emergency plan for respiratory infections. In addition, there is a conflict between the personal jurisdictions of the passengers' countries and the territorial jurisdiction of the port country. Suggestions were made to increase new air volume and maximise air cleanliness of each room, improve the legal provisions and regulatory standards to develop a joint law enforcement mechanism, and establish an international cooperation mechanism. Zhang and Wang [67] investigated the legal difficulties in the prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic and suggested solutions. Some governments refused entry to cruise ships into their ports and territories, leading to thousands of passengers and crew members being stranded on cruise ships. These situations highlighted the lack of rule-based international cooperation. Cruise lines were expected to work closely with local authorities and develop a mechanism to deal with such emergencies. Also, they suggested updating the current legal framework and clarifying the roles and responsibilities of involved parties in response to COVID-19.

Millefiori et al. [38] are among the few to analyse the COVID-19 pandemic impacts on global maritime mobility using Automatic Identification System (AIS) data. They found that amongst the global maritime shipping industry, cruise and passenger ships are the most affected segment. Comparing the 2020 mobility levels to those in previous years, a decrease in mobility between 19.57% and 42.77% was witnessed for cruise and passenger ships. In addition, many cruise ports closed down to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Silva [52] revealed that the cruise industry in Florida hit significantly with Florida's ports losing USD 22.2 billion in 2020. Cruise ship operations and shore excursion activities were also affected due to the travel requirement lifted by the Centre for Disease Control (CDC).

Tang [59] studied the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Chinese seafarer officers based on marketing reports and found that the recent pandemic increased the demand for Chinese officers. The Chinese international travel bans in coping with the pandemic forbade foreign crew changes and thus led to an acute shortage of Chinese officers. In addition, the increasing number of confirmed cases of Philippine and Indian seafarers resulted in more demand for Chinese seafarers. Even though the salary increase during the pandemic would make seafarers' jobs more attractive, the lagged effect of the previous shortage of junior ship officers cannot be completely changed in a short time.

Knight et al. [32] studied the impact of COVID-19 covering the perspectives of travel agencies. They argued that travel agencies were among the first ordered to close business soon after the initial outbreak. They were suffering great loss because all the pre-booked tours were cancelled, and they had to give full refunds to all tourists without condition. In addition, many respondents from cruise lines stated that their companies were likely to go bankrupt due to the liquidity challenges caused by the pandemic. As most cruise lines are privately owned, they were difficult to seek financial subsidies from the government. Consequently, both employees in cruise lines and travel agencies were suffering from cut salaries.

Gössling, Scott and Hall [19] focused on the future changes that the cruise industry needs to make. They stated that COVID-19 provides a lesson to the tourism industry about the effects of global change. Some people started to question the volume growth tourism model (including cruises) advocated by tourism organisations and highlighted the need to consider the zero-carbon imperative in the tourism industry. De Beukelaer [15] appealed to resolve the humanitarian crisis of stuck seafarers caused by COVID-19-related border closures and travel restrictions. Notwithstanding crew change was allowed in several countries, stranded seafarers onboard remained a high record and many seafarers suffered from contract extensions. This issue negatively affected seafarers’ well-being and mental health and might even increase the risk of ship accidents. Nam and Kim [39] argued that the existing clauses in relation to cruise ship surveys should be amended. They suggested that the force majeure clause in Class rules should be updated to cover the COVID-19 pandemic, and the extension clause should be amended to consider the possibility of a cruise ship not being able to find a port due to the pandemic.

The literature review shows that increasing efforts have been made to study the impact of COVID-19 on the cruise industry. However, the existing studies are focused on specific stakeholders such as crew members and passengers. As an unprecedented event, stakeholders in the entire cruise industry were affected by this pandemic. The gap in investigating opinions from other affected stakeholders indicates that in-depth research is needed to better understand the impact of COVID-19 [26], [52]. This research considers multiple stakeholders to investigate the COVID-19 impact and provide recommendations for the sustainable cruise industry.

3. Methodology

This research is a qualitative study with 22 semi-structured interviews conducted with stakeholders of the cruise industry in Shanghai, China. The Chinese cruise market has witnessed the greatest increase worldwide from 2014 to 2019 [7], [8]. According to CLIA [9], China was the fourth-largest source country for passengers, behind the US, Germany, and UK/Ireland. Significantly, it dominated the Asian source market, representing almost 60% of Asian passengers. As an emerging and fast-developing market, studies examining this market are relatively few compared to that in Western countries [27], [55], which require more effort and future study. Further, China is the epicentre of the initial outbreak of COVID-19. Given that there would be regional differences in the impacts, understanding the impacts of COVID-19 on the Chinese market can provide valuable insights for researchers and practitioners to better understand this emerging market and are essential for sustainable cruise shipping risk management in the future. Among all the Chinese cities, Shanghai was the first and most well-developed cruise port city in China [64], [68], and its port has become the largest homeport in Asia-Pacific [56]. These considerations motivated us to conduct interviews in Shanghai, China.

The interviews were conducted with various stakeholders in the cruise industry operating in Shanghai, China, including cruise lines, cruise port operators, travel agencies, port agents, the maritime authority, the pilot station, the cruise industry association, and cruise service providers, whose opinions were gathered in order to provide a comprehensive understanding regarding how they were affected by COVID-19 ( Table 1). Both purposive and snowball sampling strategies were applied to gain representative samples. The purposive sampling strategy enables researchers to utilise their expertise and familiarity in the researched field with high feasibility to provide an illustrative profile of the entire population [16]. The population or target population of each key stakeholder mentioned above was identified for recruiting interview participants. Meanwhile, snowball sampling can increase the sample size and handle the problem when some population of interest is hard to reach [13], [3], [41]. This strategy is particularly suitable for this research because the populations of several stakeholders (e.g., port agents) were not able to be determined due to poor data availability. Therefore, at the end of each interview, participants were asked to help recruit another participant if possible. The targeted interviewees were selected from top management levels (e.g., risk manager, operations manager), who possessed professional knowledge and rich experience in the cruise industry. Interviewees’ contact details were drawn from the yellow pages, official websites, and LinkedIn of relevant companies and telephone interviews were conducted. Table 2 shows the number of potential interviewees and final interviewed participants.

Table 1.

Interviewees' profile.

Telephone Interview Participant (TIP)	Working experience	Stakeholder	Position
TIP01	11–15	Cruise line	Operations director
TIP02	6–10	Cruise service provider	General manager
TIP03	11–15	Cruise line	General manager
TIP04	16 +	Cruise industry association	Vice Director
TIP05	16 +	Travel agency	Director
TIP06	11–15	Cruise port operator	Senior operations manager
TIP07	0–5	Cruise line	Safety manager
TIP08	0–5	Cruise line	Operation manager
TIP09	16 +	Cruise line	Hotel operations director
TIP10	6–10	Maritime authority	Safety manager
TIP11	11–15	Port agent	Manager
TIP12	6–10	Cruise service provider	Sales manager
TIP13	11–15	Travel agency	General manager
TIP14	0–5	Cruise service provider	Manager
TIP15	0–5	Cruise line	Safety manager
TIP16	0–5	Cruise line	Safety manager
TIP17	16 +	Pilot station	Senior pilot
TIP18	6–10	Cruise industry association	Manager
TIP19	6–10	Cruise line	Manager
TIP20	0–5	Cruise port operator	Manager
TIP21	0–5	Maritime authority	Manager
TIP22	0–5	Cruise line	Business manager

Table 2.

Targeted population and interviewed participants.

Stakeholder	Participants invited	Participants interviewed
Cruise line	10 (5 from snowball sampling)	9
Maritime authority	2 (1 from snowball sampling)	2
Cruise industry association	2 (1 from snowball sampling)	2
Cruise port operator	2	2
Travel agency	4	2
Port agent	2 (all from snowball sampling)	1
Cruise service provider	5	3
Pilot station	1	1
Total	28	22

The telephone interviews were conducted from April 2020 to July 2020, after the outbreak of COVID-19 which has already affected stakeholders in the cruise industry. The interviews were under the research project “Risk management in the cruise supply chain”, participants were asked to (1) describe the negative impacts of COVID-19 on themselves, their companies, and/or other involved companies in the cruise industry that they are familiar with, (2) indicate the successful management strategies implemented by their companies and/or other involved companies, and (3) recommend any strategies that can be applied in the future. The interview duration was approximately 65 min on average, ranging from 40 to 247 min. The longer interviews occurred because the participants were keen to share their knowledge in detail. Seven interviews (32%) lasted 60 min or less, seven interviews (32%) lasted 61–90 min, four interviews (18%) took time between 91 and 150 min, and four interviews (18%) lasted more than 151 min ( Table 3).

Table 3.

Summary of interviewees' profiles.

Groups		No. Participants	Percentage
Working experience	0–5 years	8	36%
	6–10 years	5	23%
	11–15 years	5	23%
	16 years and above	4	18%
Position	Senior manager	16	72%
	Junior manager	6	27%
Interview time	60 min and below	7	32%
	61–90 min	7	32%
	91–150 min	4	18%
	151 min and above	4	18%

An inductive qualitative content analysis was performed [17] through NVivo 12, which includes (1) familiarising and organising, (2) coding and reducing, and (3) interpreting and representing [1]. Firstly, data were organised and prepared for analysis. The recorded interviews were transcribed into a Microsoft Word file, and notes were typed up for each interview. Secondly, a process of "winnowing the data" was conducted [14]. Qualitative data of interviewees’ opinions from different cruise sectors were coded to show the similar COVID-19 impact on these interviewees. Then, codes were classified into the same sub-category when they were describing similar contents of issues that were worth in-depth discussion. In this research, the formulated 26 codes related to impacts on the cruise industry from different stakeholders’ perspectives were grouped into 10 sub-categories to provide a high level of abstraction for the qualitative data analysis. Appendix Table A1 shows that 26 codes were formulated, and then these codes were grouped into 10 sub-categories. These 10 sub-categories were then grouped into 5 categories for discussion, namely social, health and well-being, regulatory, operational, and financial impacts, indicating different aspects of impacts. The third step was to present the description, codes, sub-categories and categories, and interpret the findings, which lays the foundation for discussing the impacts of COVID-19 on the cruise industry and its corresponding improvement or recovery strategies in this research. Fig. 1 shows the procedure of data analysis in this research.

Fig. 1.

The procedure of data analysis using an inductive qualitative content analysis.

4. Findings

This research identified the five most salient impacts on the cruise industry, from social, health and well-being, regulatory, operational, and financial aspects, discussed in the following subsections.

4.1. Social aspect

4.1.1. Cruise business-related workers leave this industry

In the social aspect, the industry's downturn will result in unprecedented job losses, and many shipboard employees may leave the industry forever. Before the pandemic in 2019, the cruise industry created more than 1.1 million jobs worldwide and generated 150 million US dollars economic revenues [10]. A large number of people work in this industry directly and indirectly. Especially for many small island nations, they rely heavily on cruise businesses. For example, 5.9% of the entire GDP to the nation, St. Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean islands, was from cruise tourism [49]. There were also around 250,000 crew members employed in the cruise industry in the year 2018 [45]. In the wake of COVID-19, the fall in cruise tourism was disastrous for those who rely on cruise businesses for their livelihood. Undoubtedly, this pandemic will lead to long-lasting repercussions for the cruise industry. As relayed by TIP02 and TIP12 in the interviews, some crew members left due to worrying about the safety of cruises:

For example, a few crews are initially supported by their families to work on cruise ships. Due to COVID-19, they feel unsafe working as cruise ship crews. They would quit their jobs (TIP02).

Some crew members quit their job under the pressure of family concerns. Their families are worried about the safety of working onboard (TIP12).

Several employees showed pessimism about when this industry will be able to return to normal. They cannot wait for the day when ships start sailing again.

I feel it is impossible to resume sailing this year. Even though it may start to recover next year, it will cost me a year. If I can find a job on land, I may not go back aboard anymore (TIP19).

Notably, an important reason that many crew members are reluctant to work in this industry anymore is due to the lack of protection by cruise lines. As stated by TIP18, one of the largest issues is that cruise ship employees' salaries are not guaranteed during the standstill of the whole industry. A similar concern was raised by TIP19:

We get paid until March, but we have received zero wages since April. […] Some cruise lines still pay basic salaries to their ship crews, but our company freezes our contracts and does not pay anything to eliminate staff expenses (TIP19).

Cruise ship employees typically work on short-term contracts that last 6–8 months. They only get paid for the duration of their onboard periods. Some crew members may only receive basic salaries when sailing operations are halted. More seriously, other crew members stop receiving paychecks but are still required to continue working, such as cleaning, cooking and maintaining their ships (TIP19). As argued by TIP19, many cruise lines have the right to freeze contracts to cut costs because they regard COVID-19 as an act of God. This system of requiring crew members to work without pay is similar to forced labour [48].

Though COVID-19 is a shocking incident for the cruise industry, it proves that cruise shipboard employees have very little bargaining power, and their rights remain vulnerable to breach. Many crew members are forced to sign the agreements that they were voluntarily staying onboard without pay; otherwise, they would not be rehired in the future [48]. Also, many crew members who were stranded at sea suffered from contract extensions or delayed repatriations after contract completion, which would incredibly impact the well-being and work performance of these crew members [21]. The main causes of this problem include that they are forced to work onboard for ship maintenance and the obstacles introduced by port governments to crew changeovers and repatriations.

There has been a number of hunger strikes, protests, and suicides in the cruise industry amidst the pandemic, indicating a desperate situation for these crew members. First, crew members may not have access to the rights afforded by their nations of citizenship, yet they were often outside the jurisdiction of the countries where their ships were sailing. Most cruise lines are registered in low-regulation nations with their ships flying the flags of convenience, which cannot provide sufficient support to crew members.

Second, a crew member has the right to repatriation for compassionate reasons. However, denial of shore leave has widely existed during this pandemic. According to the Convention and Statute on the International Regime of Maritime Ports, port states have the authority to refuse the entry of cruise ships and embarkation and disembarkation of crews for public health considerations [31], which would harm the privilege of crew members for shore leave.

Another problem is how to address the cost in relation to sick crew members. Shipowners are responsible for the medical care of crew members under the Maritime Labour Convention; however, the cost of some medical treatment is to be borne by port states based on the International Health Regulations [31]. In practice, it would be much more challenging to protect the rights of infected crew members, especially when the vast majority of cruise lines have no presence in port states' jurisdiction. Therefore, there is an urgent need to explore initiatives to improve support for crew members and propose global guidance and treaties among cruise lines, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and port state governments to protect the rights of cruise ship crew members when facing such a crisis now and in the future.

4.1.2. Customers and crew members express concern about the safety of cruising

The safe image has a substantial impact on travellers' decision-making because potential travellers are generally risk-averse [60], and they tend to choose a tourism product that they feel safe and secure [61]. This opinion was confirmed by one interviewee from a travel agency (TIP05) who stated 'Customers go there for tourism. Why would they risk their lives for cruising? They will always choose a perceived safe place for cruising'.

From the cruise industry's perspective, ensuring a safe and healthy cruise is always what it aims to achieve [34], [70]; however, this image was fundamentally destroyed by COVID-19. Indeed, the reality is that infectious diseases are easier to outbreak on a cruise ship because of the confined environment and high population density, which was proved in the COVID-19 pandemic. Both the media and potential passengers now regard cruise ships as "petri-dishes" during the pandemic [2], and some people even believe that the cruise industry is responsible for spreading the virus worldwide [52]. As a result, potential passengers are fearful about the exposure to COVID-19 onboard, being less inclined to take a cruise. TIP05 and TIP03 argued that passengers feel scared about the safety of cruise ships because there are too many passengers on board, which is easy for the spread of the virus.

Not only cruisers are worried about the virus, but also ship crew members express concern about being infected, as explained by two interviewees:

The largest infectious source is the passenger. The virus may be brought from a port or a cruise destination to the ship. We don't know [where they get infected], and it is hard to predict (TIP07).

Although cruise ships suspend their operations, they are not closed completely. Cruise ship replenishments still have to be provided by logistics and distribution systems. Therefore, the risk of becoming infected [by crew members] cannot be avoided (TIP12).

Cruise ships are more susceptible to the COVID-19 pandemic and have attracted considerable attention in the global news since the beginning of the pandemic. The widespread media coverage helps the connection between cruise ships and the coronavirus, which worsens passengers' risk perceptions of taking a cruise. This is particularly evident in the news of the Diamond Princess and Ruby Princess. During the COVID-19 pandemic on Diamond Princess, frequent headlines and continued media coverage of the ever-increasing infected cases followed for months. In another example, the 2020 Ruby Princess debacle involved more than 900 coronavirus infections and 28 deaths [62]. Cruise ships were expelled from Australian waters, and they were refused to enter ports. Statements were made that once cruise passengers were permitted to disembark, the infected passengers would overwhelm hospitals in Australia [30]. The perceived risks of passengers would thus be amplified through the news and social media.

TIP18 believed that the media should be blamed to a certain extent, for the stigmatisation of cruising. A cruise ship is similar to an aeroplane as a confined and mobile environment, but taking an aeroplane has not been perceived as risky as taking a cruise by the public, as argued by TIP18:

Why there is not much news for the infected passengers on an aeroplane but for cruises? Because it would be much easy to make statics [for the direct linkage of infected passengers on board a cruise ship].

The media-controlled information has influenced public perceptions and attitudes toward the cruise industry. In the Ruby Princess debacle, even though the main fault lay with the New South Wales Health Department rather than the cruise line and the independent inquiry absolved Princess of negligence [62], a large number of people were still resistant to the final judgement [26]. This debacle diminished the reputation of Princess and cruising in general, with the negative images of cruise lines as trustworthy and cruise ships as risky.

The fear and insecurity image has already been created among cruisers and non-cruisers, which may affect cruise passengers' willingness to cruise after the pandemic and require additional time to recover their confidence to go on a cruise [26]. Therefore, the cruise industry should develop strategies to overcome the negative image of cruise holidays. This is especially necessary for the Chinese cruise market: Considering an emerging market, Chinese cruisers have very limited knowledge about cruising, and most of them are first-time cruisers [37]; these lead to the result that Chinese cruisers are easily affected by the information received from the media [6]. Therefore, it may need more effort to help Chinese cruisers feel safe about taking a cruise in the future.

As the media plays a pivotal role in attenuating or amplifying passengers' risk perceptions [26], the cruise industry can reduce risk perceptions and improve consumer confidence with the aid of media. That is, the cruise industry may disseminate transparent and timely messaging of the updated information of this pandemic. According to Pan et al. [40], if passengers can receive more time-sensitive information and communications from cruise lines, their trust in cruise lines could increase.

As shown by Xu et al. [66], the outbreak of COVID-19 that occurred on Diamond Princess was largely due to insufficient sanitation practices at an early age rather than the transmission of the virus between cabins. Cruise ships are relatively safe after implementing comprehensive sanitation practices such as closing the public spaces, isolating infected cases in their cabins, and using an external circulation system of central air-conditioning. The lasting negative image may be difficult to overcome, but the "petri-dishes" perception of cruise ships needs to be changed as this is likely to be untrue. The misleading information by connecting airborne transmission with cruise ships should be corrected. As suggested by TIP18, a practical way is to invite experts (e.g., from classification societies) on TV to explain the safety of cruise ships, which can help to build a safer image.

The cruise industry may also disseminate containment measures to the public, which can educate potential passengers and further cope with a potential outbreak of the virus. Once passengers have a full understanding of the implemented precautions by the industry, they would feel safe and thus be prone to choose a cruise holiday [26].

4.2. Health and well-being aspect

4.2.1. The issues of ship crew members' mental health

The global coronavirus pandemic has negatively affected the physical health of ship crew members [53]. More importantly, it has led to unprecedented hazards to crew members' mental health globally, with a high rate of anxiety and psychological distress [45], [65]. The mental health problems of crew members were also mentioned in the interviews. Crew members were struggling to go back home due to border restrictions and the closure of the port entry. Apparently, bringing crews off ship requires an agreement and a collaboration of port cities and cruise lines. Many port cities refuse the repatriation of crew members because this would add a lot of pressure to the already overloaded local healthcare system. In addition, isolation rooms, hospitals, emergency plans and quarantine procedures, all of these need to be well-prepared and well-planned before repatriation. An example was raised by TIP18, who argued the difficulties in successfully repatriating ship crews:

There is an example that hundreds of Chinese crews on a cruise ship were eager to disembark. Their employee contracts had already expired, and the ship remained adrift for months. The cruise line held one meeting and another with the port authority and local government to discuss the whole procedure. Every step was discussed detailed, inducing the time taken for customs clearance, the arrangement for buses taken to the isolation hotel, procedures for different levels of protection, etc. […] Finally, all the Chinese crews on that ship disembarked successfully with joint efforts.

Other factors that prevent stranded cruise ship crews from returning home include cruise lines being reluctant to organise charter flights and cruise lines' expectations of resuming sailing [29]. As stated by a stranded manager on a cruise ship during the interview (TIP19):

We have been stuck at sea for more than 100 days without being on land. […] [We cannot go back because] the aeroplane tickets [departure from the port city] have been fully booked until October. [Even if flights are available,] our cruise line certainly would not buy such expensive tickets for us. […] Some cruise lines may gather all Asian crews and bring them back to Asia by ship. For others like us, cruise lines feel costly to bring us home.

Because of these difficulties, ship crew members remain trapped at sea in isolation. The result is that crew members feel lonely (TIP18) and suffer from mental health problems (TIP12). From the news of Street [54], at least six crew members died by suicide onboard. On the Majesty of the Seas, crew members staged a protest to draw the industry's attention to their plight. A sign was hung on the open deck reading 'How many more suicides you need' [54]. According to the research conducted by the interviewee (TIP18) from China's cruise industry association, almost 1/3 of crew members may have mental health problems. Some of them may talk with their colleagues; however, 1/5 of them would not ask for mental health treatment.

The mental health problem is much more salient during the ongoing pandemic. Crew members are under the pressure of days spent inside a windowless cabin, with bread and butter filling their stomachs and financial burdens by only being paid a basic salary [29]. The cruise industry is a relatively high-end industry, but in contrast, cruise ship crew members are routinely mistreated.

There are several recommended measures against these mental disorders. A feasible measure is disseminating the latest COVID-19-related information to ship crews timely. Ship crews are stuck at sea with limited information sources. Yet, social media are filled with rumours and false information. Therefore, the dissemination of valid news is likely to prevent panic [63]. Further, the adoption of precautious measures, such as wearing masks and frequent handwashing, can also lower the levels of psychological illnesses during the pandemic based on the research of Wang et al. [63]. In addition, the cruise industry could provide remote mental health services to ship crew members. With the aid of the latest technology, these services can be delivered by online consultation and hotlines.

4.3. Regulatory aspect

4.3.1. The strengthening of international cooperation and collaboration

The COVID-19 crisis showed a lack of international cooperation and collaboration in handling a pandemic event [43], [72]. Many ships were denied entry to ports and several infected crew members were trapped on cruise ships, indicating the lack of cooperation and collaboration between cruise lines and port states. A lesson can be learned from the Diamond Princess incident that the quarantine practice of a cruise ship without port support is ineffective. Cruise lines need to cooperate with port states to conduct nucleic acid tests quickly if any suspected cases emerge. Medical care and disinfection should also be carried out in cooperation with port states as the medical facilities and personnel aboard are rather limited. Further, the confirmed cases and close contacts may need to be transferred to quarantine rooms ashore to prevent cross-infection, as the circulation systems on cruise ships are generally unqualified for quarantine requirements.

The interviewees also raised several examples that indicate the significance of international cooperation and collaboration amid the pandemic. Thousands of crew members were stranded at sea off the coasts, while their repatriations required significant efforts from port states. Successful disembarkation of ship crew members is not as easy as it appears (TIP12). Relevant parties need to work together and prepare in advance for each step of the procedures to ensure safety and zero contamination (TIP18). TIP10 exemplified with an example of helping 300 crews off a cruise in China:

A cooperation mechanism was first developed among cruise lines, customs, inspection and quarantine authorities, maritime safety administration, and port authorities. Precautionary measures and emergency response procedures were made in advance, together with policy to guarantee information sharing. Otherwise, there is no such city that is capable of hospitalising 300 cases if they were infected.

Although China is one of the first infected countries worldwide, there is no notorious COVID-19 spread incident on a cruise ship operating in China. There also has been a suspected COVID-19-related issue on Costa Serena in China [4], but with the cooperation of port states and relevant organisations, this incident was handled promptly and efficiently [36]. From the interviews, TIP05 gave credit to the resources provided by port states in such incidents that are important for epidemic prevention and control, including the quarantine rooms and temperature screening kiosks. TIP01 underlined the effectiveness of cooperation with port states in terms of information sharing. As a benefit of international cooperation and collaboration, the transparency of information enables the tracing of those potentially infected cases and the conducting of quarantine measures in an efficient way. As information sharing is essential for the prevention and control of epidemic-prone diseases, an information-sharing mechanism was recommended by TIP05 and TIP10 to be built among port states, flag states, cruise port operators and cruise lines. In the case of epidemic outbreaks, both cruise lines and port states are expected to have the latest information so that they can respond to the epidemic quickly and take corresponding procedures, such as designating sufficient quarantine facilities.

Although several international organisations such as the IMO and World Health Organisation (WHO) are closely related to the prevention and control of infectious diseases on cruise ships, cooperation among them is quite limited and they rarely conduct joint actions [67]. The WHO has limited legislative power to regulate epidemic containment procedures aboard cruise ships, while IMO has limited responsibility for the sanitary of cruise ships [67]. The inefficiency and ineffectiveness were shown by these organisations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. A rule-based international cooperation mechanism could be established among international organisations and together joined by cruise lines, cruise port operators and cruise shipbuilders. These involved parties could work together to develop unified standards for further improvements of cruise ship health management in terms of upgrading the construction specifications and epidemic prevention standards.

To solve the issues of fragmented and inconsistent regulations that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, international organisations, including the WHO, IMO, and ILO (International Labour Organisation), may take a leading role in expanding, amending, and updating the existing conventions or providing a unified interpretation of relevant regulations and instruments [67]. In this way, the roles and responsibilities of involved parties can be clearly defined in the future international legal framework, and effective and enforceable measures can be guaranteed to ensure the control of future communicable disease outbreaks.

4.3.2. The improvement of regulations, conventions, laws, and instruments

Regulations, conventions, laws, and instruments related to cruise businesses need to be improved to mitigate the impact of public health events in the future [5]. The flag state has difficulty performing its administrative functions to those ships under flags of convenience. Although the same situation suits almost all types of ships, this problem is much more salient for cruise ships. Cruise passengers and crew members could be from up to 50 countries, representing a "mini-United Nations" [69]. With a ship carrying 4–6 thousand passengers and crew members from a great variety of countries, it would be much easier for a cruise ship to cause cross-jurisdictional problems among personal jurisdiction of passengers' states of nationality, the territorial jurisdiction of the port countries and shipowners in handling public health events. For example, the ship Diamond Princess was registered in the UK, while it is operated by Princess Cruises based in the United States and the port state in Japan. The existing international law has no explicit provision on whether UK or Japan should bear responsibility when public health emergency happens [35]. This unclear stipulation of rescue obligations increases the difficulty of dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak on Diamond Princess. In other words, there is ambiguity and inconsistency of international law and conventions in the prevention and control of the pandemic onboard ships, which affects the effectiveness of containment measures. Such a problem was also observed in 2009 on the cruise ship Pacific Dawn: The failure to respond to H1N1 due to legal and jurisdiction problems led to the widespread of the virus [35]. Therefore, international law needs to be strengthened to clearly define the roles and responsibilities of involved stakeholders, especially the flag state, port state, nationality state and cruise lines. As suggested by Zhang and Wang [67], this clear clarification of jurisdiction can be achieved by defining the priority order of stakeholders undertaking responsibilities. Specifically, the flag state may bear the main obligation for recusing on international waters, while the port state may have primary responsibility for recusing on territorial seas [67]. In addition, the existing regulations and conventions need to be strengthened to have unified standards of containment measures and requirements for this pandemic, such as configurations of the isolation room at ports, and the requirement of installing temperature measurement systems, as argued by TIP18.

4.4. Operational aspect

4.4.1. The lack of an emergency or contingency plan for respiratory infectious diseases

Some people may argue that COVID-19 is a new threat to the cruise industry; however, there have been several warnings that pandemics would pose a major threat since 2002 [19]. Although SARS has affected the cruise industry, it is obvious that the lesson was not learned by the cruise industry, as no comprehensive contingency plans exist in case of an infectious disease outbreak [71]. The existing outbreak prevention plans for the cruise industry are designed to handle acute gastroenteritis, not for infectious diseases [36], [72]. This opinion was also supported by TIP20, who stated that 'Currently, cruise lines have emergency response plans for foodborne diseases while lacking those for respiratory infectious diseases'.

The outbreak aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship shows the reactive approach of the cruise industry toward health-related risks and the unpreparedness of cruise lines towards infectious disease outbreaks. TIP09 argued that the problem of the Diamond Princess is due to lacking an appropriate plan and procedure to handle respiratory infectious disease and lacking a linkage mechanism between a cruise ship and a coastal city. To handle this problem, a more proactive approach such as a pre-determined contingency plan is required for the prevention and control of infections on cruise ships. New protocols, with the WHO's guidance and the CDC framework, are required to be developed and bought a change to the cruise industry for the current and future possible epidemics. The emergency or contingency plan was also highlighted by TIP04 for the success of the Chinese cruise industry in handling this pandemic:

China's cruise industry made an emergency response plan when this virus [SARS-Co-2] first came out. The spread of the virus on a cruise ship was controlled by establishing an emergency response system and a contingency plan before a massive outbreak.

4.4.2. Education

Besides developing a contingency plan, the cruise industry may educate crew members and cruise passengers about public health and hygiene while onboard cruise ships. As agreed by TIP16, 'Our cruise lines will send us documents and brochures in PDF versions [for education] and tell both employees onboard and onshore how to behave during the pandemic'. In the 2020 Diamond Princess incident, many ship crew members lacked awareness about the preventive measures, and several infected passengers even walked in the open areas [36]. Further training and education may be provided to crew members and passengers about the standard procedures of epidemic prevention to improve their practice and maintain higher standards of cleanliness and hygiene on board when facing epidemics. Passengers can be educated on good practices to protect themselves. In addition, educating crews can also help improve the safe image of a cruise brand, because cruise passengers would prefer to select a cruise brand that is perceived with a good ability to handle viruses [25].

4.4.3. An upgrade of construction specifications

Previous research revealed that cruise passengers were less worried about health-related risks and trusted cruise lines in maintaining sanitation [24]. However, this opinion changed dramatically due to the impact of COVID-19. Passengers now tend to choose a cruise after determining cruise lines' health measures onboard [25]. One of their largest concerns lies in the cleanliness of the air. Cruise ships have relied on their central air-conditioning systems for ventilation. It is standard practice for air-conditioning systems to mix fresh air with recirculated air to save costs and energy. Although an air filter is equipped, these systems cannot filter out particles like the coronavirus or SARS, which may contribute to the spread of COVID-19 aboard cruise ships [36]. Further, many cabins are without windows and have no access to fresh air. For example, on the Diamond Princess, of the 1337 cabins, only 748 have balconies, with the rest having no natural light [36]. Inadequate air circulation increases the risk of respiratory infections on a cruise ship. A similar opinion was stated by TIP07, 'The quarantine facilities need to be updated. Many cabins are without balconies, which means that they fully rely on the internal circulation system'.

As a result, the pandemic has exposed the urgent need to upgrade ships' ventilation systems. A plausible way for a cruise ship is to improve air filtration, such as installing new medical-grade H13 high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters across cruise ship fleets, which was conducted by Norwegian Cruise Line in June 2021[50]. These filters are estimated to remove 99.95% of airborne pathogens like the COVID-19 pathogen [57]. Cruise lines may refit their entire ship fleets with such HEPA filters to purify the air aboard. Another way is to introduce UVC light into the existing ship's heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. This process is also named ultraviolet germicidal irradiation, which can destroy bacteria and viruses before they enter the air mixed aboard [23]. In a word, the cruise industry needs to make innovations in refining air systems to ensure passengers and crews are not exposed to infectious diseases.

4.4.4. The cruise industry's future

The cruise industry is continuing to resume with proven protocols. However, there is a debate on whether cruise booking is going to increase or decrease in recent future compared to the pre-COVID era. Some believed that cruise passengers were hesitant about cruising due to health and safety concerns caused by COVID-19 [26]. Similar opinions were agreed upon by interviewees TIP05, TIP09 and TIP18. As argued by TIP05, 'customers feel insecure on a cruise ship due to the pandemic. I think the cruise business would recover later compared to other tourism products.' Others predicted a surge in cruising consumption because cruisers cannot wait to go onboard after a long time of trapping due to the current travel restrictions and social distancing [20]. Two interviewees (TIP09 and TIP18) agreed with this opinion, 'they [customers] are willing to relax after returning to a pre-pandemic lifestyle.' Regardless of either view, the cruise booking for 2023 has moved beyond expectations. Several cruise lines, including Regent Seven Seas, Oceania Cruises and Viking Ocean Cruises, had reported that their 2023 world cruises are all sold out [28]. With the recovery of booking, the COVID-19 pandemic has provided an opportunity for the cruise industry to accelerate the transformation to be sustainable and resilient. This pandemic urges the need for the cruise industry to edge from evolution to revolution, and fundamentally change for a new pattern to a more sustainable industry.

The marketing strategies implemented in the past may need to be changed in the post-pandemic world. From the research of Holland et al. [26], both first-time and repeated cruise passengers were negative to take a cruise in the future. Among these two groups, special attention should be paid to first-time cruise passengers, as repeated passengers have fewer doubts about safety because they are more familiar with cruising [22]. Marketing strategies can be tailored to first-time cruise passengers by disseminating information to improve consumer confidence.

In addition, cruises may extend from leisure activities to commercial activities for business diversification. For example, cruise lines could host events on cruise ships for large conferences, fund-raisers, trade shows, presentations, product launches, and ceremonies. The luxurious accommodations, globally-inspired dining, and jaw-dropping entertainment can deliver extraordinary experiences like a meeting at sea. Also, the mobility of a cruise ship enables it to create endless event options around the world. In this way, the cruise industry can expand its target markets beyond traditional cruise passengers to the land-based hospitality industry (e.g., hosting land-based events) and thus create a more robust and active market.

The cruise industry may also adopt advanced technologies in the post-pandemic world. The pandemic revealed the vulnerability of a cruise ship to effectively prevent respiratory diseases from spreading. To handle this vulnerability, cruise lines may invest in contactless technologies to make the cruise experience more seamless and reduce human contact. They may provide wristbands that monitor social distancing, enable contract tracing, and facilitate contactless transactions around the ship [52]. This technology can ensure that anyone potentially exposed to COVID-19 can be identified as soon as possible. Another technology recommended by the interviewees (TIP09 and TIP18) is the adoption of thermal imaging systems, which can measure cruisers' temperatures without being physically close to them. A cruise ship can be facilitated with such systems and integrated with cameras in open areas for real-time health monitoring and early diagnostic evaluation.

The pandemic has led to a change in cruisers' preferences. Cruisers start to prefer an itinerary that is close to their homes, such as domestic cruising. Also, they tend to believe that smaller ships with balcony cabins are safer [25]. These preferences are in contrast with the current industry trend of building larger ships. Therefore, the cruise industry may need to consider carefully about their future marketing strategies. At least in recent years, more attention could be paid to shorter itineraries. The shutdown of international cruises also forces travel agencies to shift their emphasis to domestic tours. Some travel agencies have even exited the international cruise market and started to organise inter-provincial or in-province tours (TIP05). Cruise lines may resume operations on short domestic routes or cruise-to-nowhere options to avoid those cruise-related travel agencies from going out of business and focusing on domestic clientele. Under pandemic preventive measures, China has seen a strong rebound in domestic travel, making it opportune for the domestic cruise. The Chinese cruise industry would benefit from exploring coastal cruises. In-depth onshore activities can be provided to attract more domestic passengers in COVID-free areas and help to build customer loyalty.

4.5. Financial aspect

4.5.1. The opportunity for China

Cruise lines are financially distressed and are struggling to find ways to generate more cash or reduce liabilities due to the impact of COVID-19. Before the pandemic swept across the world, China had been actively participating in the cruise industry, showing its ambitions [47]. The threshold to enter this industry was relatively high before, while the current pandemic offers a precious opportunity for China.

Generally, the investment of a cruise ship would cost several hundred million or even a billion. Now, it only costs a fraction of the original price because cruise lines are hunting for cash. For example, the cruise ship Columbus was sold at just $5.3 million, while the ship's value was $95 million prior to the pandemic [51]. Chinese companies have always wanted to build their own ship fleets and expand their influence on global cruise ship operations. It is a good chance for them to buy cruise ships at a much lower price.

The structure of the deployed fleets in China has always been criticised as undiversified. According to Kuang [33], 21% of global cruise ships weigh in at above 100,000 gross tons. In contrast, 47% of the deployed cruise ships in China are above 100,000 gross tons, and only 19% are below 50,000 gross tons. This indicates that the current Chinese cruise market still focuses on the mainstream class of cruise product segment with large cruise ships and mainly targets mainstream cruise passengers, lacking other segments such as luxury cruises or expedition cruises with smaller ships. It shows the inappropriate structure of the Chinese cruise market. In the future, cruise passengers tend to look for more personalised services, and smaller ships enable cruise lines to provide more sense of privacy and value more on passengers' special requests [18]. The significance of smaller ships is going to receive more attention amid the pandemic because smaller ships are perceived as safer with fewer cruise passengers. Therefore, the Chinese cruise industry may attract or buy smaller cruise ships to diversify their products in the post-COVID era.

Chinese shipyards have been seriously committed to mastering large cruise ship construction over the years. Yet, the build-up of domestic large cruise ships requires technology transfer, cooperation and innovation. Building a large cruise ship involves more than 20 million components, which is even more complicated than China's C919 aeroplane in terms of the number of components [47]. Chinese shipyards have always been facing challenges in technology transfer and intellectual property infringement with international players. With the coronavirus devastating the global cruise industry, there is little demand for shipbuilding or repairs, and several shipyards are on the edge of bankruptcy (e.g., MV Werften). Considering the high barriers to entry in this market, it could be a good opportunity for Chinese shipyards to their acquisitions of existing cruise shipbuilders. Ownership of cruise shipyards enables Chinese shipbuilders to leverage the shipyard's technical expertise and track record and increase competition in the cruise industry. With the pattern of the Chinese central administration, Chinese cruise lines can also receive benefits as they can build Chinese cruise ships on a timely basis and ensure management focuses on the strategic planning and deployment of their planned cruise ships. As argued by TIP18 in the interviews,

For Chinese companies, this is highly likely a good opportunity. We can acquire those shipyards that failed to survive during the pandemic. Because those talents in this high-end shipbuilding industry are in urgent need and a few core technology or designs cannot be reached by us previously. Now it is an opportunity to make a breakthrough.

5. Conclusion

This research provides an understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on the cruise industry from different stakeholders in China, including cruise lines, cruise port operators, the pilot station, the maritime authority, travel agencies, cruise service providers, port agents and the cruise industry association. The findings reveal several problems existing in the current cruise industry and an urgent need for future improvement. Then, recommendations and recovery strategies are proposed to mitigate the negative impacts. As a result, this research contributes to the literature by advancing the understanding of the impact on the interviewed stakeholders in terms of social, health and well-being, regulatory, operational, and financial impacts, and the impact specifically on the Chinese cruise market. On the other hand, this research makes practical contributions to help researchers and policymakers understand the effects of the pandemic and facilitate future risk mitigation strategies.

This research provides profound implications for policymaking and practice implementation. More specifically, preliminary findings in this research reveal that almost all the stakeholders in the cruise industry were negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In a practical sense, strategies to build a more sustainable future for the cruise industry require concerted efforts of different stakeholders, including (1) International organisations (e.g., ILO, IMO) could work with cruise lines to provide legal help and protect the health, income, and human rights of employees in the cruise industry; (2) Cruise lines could develop procedures for reporting and disseminating clear and transparent information to reduce risk perceptions of cruisers and crew members for future respiratory infections like COVID-19; (3) Cruise shipbuilders could work with designers to make improvements in air treatment and roomy public areas for maximum safety and hygiene; (4) Port states and local governments could work with cruise lines to develop contingency plans for dealing with COVID-19. They could also work with international organisations (e.g., WHO, IMO) to clearly define the role and responsibility of each involved stakeholder under the international and domestic law frameworks in face of such a pandemic; (5) Travel agencies could work with cruise lines to build an appropriate marketing strategy in the post-COVID-19 world.

This research has a limitation in its focus on practitioners' perspectives during COVID-19. Future research may invite more affected stakeholders in China and study the impact of this pandemic on them. Besides, it is recommended to conduct comparative studies to explore the extent to which this pandemic affects the perceptions of risks in cruising or the cruising intentions among cruisers from other regions, such as between cruisers from mature markets and emerging markets.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Jingen Zhou: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources, Software, Writing – original draft, Writing - review & editing, Supervision. Shu-Ling (Peggy) Chen: Conceptualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Supervision. Wenming (Wendy) Shi: Conceptualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Supervision. Maneerat Kanrak: Writing – review & editing. Jiawei Ge: Writing – review & editing.

Declaration of Competing Interest

none.

Appendix.

.

Table A1.

Coding Scheme.

Code	Interviewee	Example of evidence from interviewees	Sub-Category	Main Category
Relatives of cruise ship crews would not support them to go aboard	TIP02 TIP12	For example, a few crews are initially supported by their families to work on cruise ships. Due to COVID-19, they feel unsafe working as cruise ship crews. They would quit their jobs (TIP02). Some crew members quit their job under the pressure of family concerns. Their families are worried about the safety of working onboard (TIP12).	Cruise business-related workers leave this industry	Social aspect
Cruise ship crews leave the cruise industry	TIP02 TIP04 TIP14 TIP18 TIP19	Potential crew members are drifting out about when they can get an interview opportunity, and when they can get on board. After all, they don’t know how long it takes to wait. [...] New cruise ship crew could not go aboard after job interviews (TIP02). The cruising-related companies could not open for business and their staff cannot find work to do (TIP04). I have no work to do because of COVID-19. There is little possibility that I would stay in the cruise industry in the following years (TIP14). A few cruise talents may head to hotels to seek a job (TIP18). Crews would leave because there is no guarantee of salary for crews during the pandemic (TIP18). For example, 26% of the RCCL headquarter’s employees were laid off or told to take a vacation (TIP18). I feel it is impossible to resume sailing this year. Even though it may start to recover next year, it will cost me a year. If I can find a job on land, I may not go back aboard anymore (TIP19).
A guarantee is needed for crew members	TIP12 TIP15 TIP18 TIP19	For salary fixed positions, such as reception or childcare, not much difference exists in salaries before and after the shutdown of operation. However, for positions that rely on tips and deductions, such as restaurants, hotels, and duty-free stores, only paying basic wages to those staff is just a drop in the bucket (TIP12). Except the technical positions (e.g., maintenance), crews who are supposed to be off ships but remained on the ships only get basic wages (TIP15). One of the largest issues is that cruise ship employees are not guaranteed during the standstill of the whole industry. Most of their employment contracts are signed shortly, at an interval of 6 months. They only get paid for the duration of their onboard periods (TIP18). We get paid until March, but we have received zero wages since April. […] Some cruise lines still pay basic salaries to their ship crews, but our company freezes our contracts and does not pay anything to eliminate staff expenses (TIP19). Many crew members were without pay in the pandemic era, though they were requested to continue maintaining their ships. […] Many cruise lines have the right to freeze contracts to cut costs because they regard COVID-19 as an act of God (TIP19).
Passengers and ship crew members express concern about the safety of cruise ships	TIP03 TIP04 TIP05 TIP07 TIP08 TIP12	Because there are too many passengers onboard, [it is easy] for the spread of the virus (TIP03). Because of COVID-19, customers are unwilling to take a cruise even if they have money. They feel that they are easy to get infected and unsafe on cruise ships. [Customers] have lost consumer confidence (TIP04). Customers go there for tourism. Why would they risk their lives for cruising? They will always choose a perceived safe place for cruising. Passengers feel scared about the safety of cruise ships (TIP05). The largest infectious source is the passenger. The virus may be brought from a port or a cruise destination to the ship. We don't know [where they get infected], and it is hard to predict (TIP07). The cruise ship itself is an unsafe and easily-being infected place for respiratory infectious disease (TIP08). Although cruise ships suspend their operations, they are not closed completely. Cruise ship replenishments still have to be provided by logistics and distribution systems. Therefore, the risk of becoming infected [by crew members] cannot be avoided (TIP12). For example, cruise passengers and crews are exposed to COVID-19 on Braemar from Fred Olsen, and Silver Shadow from Silversea. There is always an outbreak of COVID-19 aboard ships. Once a passenger or crew get infected, the whole ship is affected (TIP12).	Customers and crew members express concern about the safety of cruising
The media assist in building the horrible cruise image	TIP18	Why there is not much news for the infected passengers on an aeroplane but for cruises? Because it would be much easy to make statics [for the direct linkage of infected passengers on board a cruise ship] (TIP18). Inviting experts (e.g., from classification societies) on TV to explain the safety of cruise ships can help to build a safer image (TIP18).
Crews are suffered from mental health problems	TIP12 TIP18 TIP19	Crews are suffered from mental health problems. [...] Encourage and support the aboard crews, these kinds of providing spiritual strength are very important. Before the arrival of targeted drugs, autoimmune resistance and personal willpower are the key to the key for crews. If possible, cruise lines could maintain more communication with the aboard crews and provide smooth information and timely help (TIP12). The loneliness in the entire cruise contract. There is some research on this issue. Almost 1/3 of crew members may have mental health problems. Some of them may talk with their colleagues; however, 1/5 of them would not ask for mental health treatment (TIP18). The entire ship was isolated. Even the internet was not free. We, crews, still need to buy internet service to make contact with the world, [which exacerbates the feelings of worry] (TIP19).	The issues of ship crew members' mental health	Health and well-being aspect
Crews are difficulty disembarking cruise ships	TIP11 TIP12 TIP18	Due to COVID-19, shore leave is generally unallowed for many crews. Especially for foreign crews, they were denied entry to ports (TIP11). Crews need to spend their own money on aeroplane tickets, avoid being infected during transit, and have to endure isolation policies in different areas (TIP12). There is an example that hundreds of Chinese crews on a cruise ship were eager to disembark. Their employee contracts had already expired, and the ship remained adrift for months. The cruise line held one meeting and another with the port authority and local government to discuss the whole procedure. Every step was discussed detailed, inducing the time taken for customs clearance, the arrangement for buses taken to the isolation hotel, procedures for different levels of protection, etc. […] Finally, all the Chinese crews on that ship disembarked successfully with joint efforts (TIP18).
Cruise ship crews remain stuck on board	TIP12 TIP18 TIP19	Although cruise ships suspend their operations, they are not closed completely. Ship supplies still have to be provided by a logistics and distribution system. The risk of becoming infected cannot be avoided (TIP12). A cruise ship with hundreds of Chinese crews is eager to disembark. Their contracts have expired, and the ship has been drifting on the sea for months. The cruise line holds one meeting and another with the port authority and local government to discuss the whole procedure (TIP18). We are stuck on a ship for more than 100 days without stepping on land (TIP19). The aeroplane tickets [from the port city] have been fully booked till October. Our cruise line certainly would not buy such an expensive ticket for us (TIP19). For some cruise lines, they will gather all Asian crews to one ship and ship back to Asia. For others, they feel costly to bring us home (TIP19). We have been stuck at sea for more than 100 days without being on land. […] [We cannot go back because] the aeroplane tickets [departure from the port city] have been fully booked until October. [Even if flights are available,] our cruise line certainly would not buy such expensive tickets for us. […] Some cruise lines may gather all Asian crews and bring them back to Asia by ship. For others like us, cruise lines feel costly to bring us home (TIP19).
Repatriation requires cooperation and collaboration	TIP05 TIP10 TIP12 TIP18	Almost all countries are reluctant to receive ships. Because numerous follow-up works and cooperations related to quarantine have to be done after receiving approval for disembarkation (TIP05). A cooperation mechanism was first developed among cruise lines, customs, inspection and quarantine authorities, maritime safety administration, and port authorities. Precautionary measures and emergency response procedures were made in advance, together with policy to guarantee information sharing. Otherwise, there is no such city that is capable of hospitalising 300 cases if they were infected (TIP10). Successful disembarkation of ship crews is not as easy as it appears. Crews need to spend their own money on aeroplane tickets, avoid being infected during transit, and have to endure isolation policies in different areas. [...] Great efforts have been spent by inspection and quarantine, cruise lines, and local government (TIP12). Relevant parties need to work together and prepare in advance for each step of the procedures to ensure safety and zero contamination (TIP18).	The strengthening of international cooperation and collaboration	Regulatory aspect
Epidemic prevention and control	TIP01 TIP05 TIP10 TIP18 TIP21 TIP22	Two passengers with high fever were found on a cruise ship in China during the pandemic. The transparency of information between local authorities and cruise lines enables them to trace those potentially infected and conduct quarantine measures efficiently (TIP01). Timely information sharing, smooth communication and transparency before the incident, collaboration among authorities and companies, making a contingency plan during the incident, follow-up and exchange of information after the incident are important for epidemic prevention and control, including the quarantine rooms and temperature screening kiosks (TIP05). Good information sharing, coordination, and fast response of coastal authorities (TIP10). When the virus started to spread, we have already told passengers from Wuhan that do not to come to Shanghai. At that time, there are still 10 ships operating in Shanghai. Because of our rapid response, with well-equipped machines, as a result, no passengers get infected (TIP18). We have to work together with other authorities, including customs, port operators, and cruise lines. [Preventing pandemic] needs to cooperate with different stakeholders (TIP21). The prevention of this pandemic requires onboard quarantine inspection measures and protocols (TIP22).
The improvement of regulations, conventions, laws, and instruments	TIP03 TIP10 TIP12 TIP18	Crews are expected to have protocol or procedure guidelines for COVID-19, similar to what cruise lines have done to manage Norovirus (TIP03). The guidance or protocol from China on the prevention and control of COVID-19 was detailed and timely, endorsed by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and distributed to its member states (TIP10). The COVID-19 pandemic forced cruise lines to improve their emergency plans for public health emergencies. Our cruise line has divided the ship into red, orange, yellow and green areas based on the risk level for control. If similar epidemics are encountered in the future, the four areas can be managed and isolated according to the symptoms or close contact assessment to prevent cross-infection, and the cruise line will endeavour in ship-shore cooperation to carry out joint prevention and control (TIP12). In the future, we need to design a unified standard in all Chinese ports [for pandemic prevention and control]. The idea is that after we have set this standard, all the cruise ships which call at Chinese ports must meet the requirements of this standard, from some basic facilities, such as some configurations of the isolation room, temperature measurement system, the number of ship doctors, medicines, and so on. [...] We need to have such a standard as a guideline to follow (TIP18).	The improvement of regulations, conventions, laws, and instruments
Emergency or contingency plan	TIP04 TIP06 TIP09 TIP20 TIP21	China's cruise industry made an emergency response plan when this virus [SARS-Co-2] first came out. The spread of the virus on a cruise ship was controlled by establishing an emergency response system and a contingency plan before a massive outbreak (TIP04). Successfully repatriation is a great test of a country's emergency management ability (TIP04). Before a COVID-19 incident occurred, the involved stakeholders should make good communication, both in transparency and timeliness and make a relevant emergency plan (TIP06). The problem of the Diamond Princess is due to lacking an appropriate protocol or procedure to handle respiratory infectious disease and lacking a linkage mechanism between a cruise ship and a coastal city. [...] The existing protocol or procedure on the Diamond Princess is to handle diseases that require close contact (GI, Norovirus), not airborne transmission. The Diamond Princess is not qualified as an isolation place (TIP09). Currently, cruise lines have emergency response plans for foodborne diseases while lacking those for respiratory infectious diseases (TIP20) In my opinion, the main point is to focus on improving cruise lines' emergency plans and safety management systems. [...] Because crews from cruise lines play the most important role in handling the pandemic (TIP21).	The lack of an emergency or contingency plan for respiratory infectious diseases	Operational aspect
Training and education	TIP16 TIP19	Our cruise lines will send us documents and brochures in PDF versions [for education] and tell both employees onboard and onshore how to behave during the pandemic (TIP16). One lesson that we can learn from other cruise lines in the pandemic is that NCL's training for their employees is much better. For many details in each employee's role or responsibility, NCL would educate them (TIP19).	Education
An upgrade of construction specifications	TIP07 TIP12 TIP15	If passengers or crews went out for a tour and get infected. The virus was then brought back to the ship, and this is difficult to be detected. In such a case, if this person is not taken to a room with a balcony [without external circulation], the virus could then be disseminated on the ship. [...] The quarantine facilities need to be updated. Many cabins are without balconies, which means that they fully rely on the internal circulation system (TIP07). The cruise ship is not fit for quarantine during the pandemic. An update needs to be done in the future (TIP12). There is a dispute on whether the existing central air-conditioning systems could cause cross-infection. We only know that we change the filter every month. This filter can prevent PM2.5, but we do not know whether it could prevent COVID-19 (TIP15).	An upgrade of construction specifications
The adoption of advanced technology	TIP09 TIP18	I know that there is a new technology. With cameras integrated onboard, the real-time passengers' body temperature can be measured. This technology can help with early diagnostic evaluation (TIP09). When I introduce Shanghai's successful experience of handling the pandemic [even though China is the epicentre of the pandemic in the very early period], I recommended the adoption of thermal imaging systems, which can measure cruisers' temperatures without being physically close to them (TIP18).	The cruise industry's future
Related companies declare business transition	TIP05 TIP06 TIP12 TIP18	Some travel agencies started to organise inter-provincial or in-province tours. [...] For us, we started to launch different industry cooperation projects (e.g., with banks and real estate developers) to increase our customer base (TIP05). A lesson we have learned as a port operator is that we could implement a diversified business strategy in the future, such as real estate brokerage, and import and export trade (TIP06). Some travel agencies started transitioning; they start to focus on the tour around business (TIP12). I know that some cruise ports, such as Fuzhou cruise port started to welcome cargo ships. If cruise ports can work in diverse functions, they could reduce the damage because of the pandemic (TIP18).
Cruise booking is going to rebound	TIP09 TIP18	The cruise business in China is largely influenced by the policy, while that in the rest world is largely influenced by the capital. [...] For example, the Urumchi municipal government could provide subsidies to the destination port, such as Shanghai based on the number of customers who are going to take a cruise. Shanghai port would be willing to welcome these customers. In this way, [increasing the cruise business] is easy to achieve (TIP09). Cruise ship bookings for 2021 increased by 21% in America. This means either customers postpone the current bookings to the next year, or they are willing to relax after returning to a pre-pandemic lifestyle (TIP18).
Cruise booking is going to decrease	TIP04 TIP05 TIP06 TIP08 TIP13 TIP20	Customers don't have the confidence to purchase cruising. Therefore, I think in the following two years, the cruise business will go down (TIP04). Customers feel insecure on a cruise ship due to the pandemic. I think the cruise business would recover later compared to other tourism products (TIP05). Customers are not ready to spend because COVID-19 tightens their incomes (TIP06). One of the reasons that cruise lines suffer is that they use the monetary lever excessively. They use smaller cruise ships as a mortgage for getting a loan to build a larger ship or rise shares of cruise lines for finances. The large number of cruise ships is not the result of market demand, but the result of a financing game - this is one of the main reasons that many cruise lines were destroyed severely in the pandemic. [...] If cruise lines continue running their business in this pattern, the market will still be oversupplied. (TIP08). Affected by the pandemic, customers do not have money to take a cruise (TIP13). Customers lost consumer confidence (TIP20).
An opportunity for Chinese cruise lines	TIP04 TIP17 TIP18	This is an opportunity for Chinese cruise lines like SARS helped turn Alibaba into one of the world’s largest e-commerce companies. The global economy was affected. This is a big change, a harbinger of social change. The era of great change. A major change not seen in a century. An opportunity for China, and for Chinese cruise lines (TIP04). Our government now has a strategic agreement with an international cruise line - we buy a few of their ships, then they help us train our cruise ship management team, and we design together and build ships together. Now is an opportunity for China. This is an industry chain (TIP17). For Chinese companies, this is highly likely a good opportunity. We can acquire those shipyards that failed to survive during the pandemic. Because those talents in this high-end shipbuilding industry are in urgent need and a few core technologies or designs cannot be reached by us previously. Now it is an opportunity to make a breakthrough. We can work for a pattern that covers a business scope of a whole industry chain (TIP18).	The opportunity for China	Financial aspect

Data Availability

No data was used for the research described in the article.