Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the scope of the Global Travel Taskforce’s report due to be published on 12 April 2021 on the reopening of international travel will include the cruise sector; and if he will make a statement.

The successor to the Global Travel Taskforce report will consider a safe and sustainable return to international travel. It will include the cruise sector and will determine the timelines for international cruise restart.

The report’s recommendations will be aimed at facilitating a return to international travel as soon as is possible, while still managing risk from imported cases and variants of concern. The Taskforce will report on 12 April to the Prime Minister and will work with UK representatives of the travel sector, including cruise operators and trade associations. Following that, the Government will determine when international travel should resume, which will be no earlier than 17 May.

I am in regular contact with the cruise sector and will engage with them once timelines have been determined.