Tonga's tourism industry, while preparing to welcome visitors off three cruise ships on Wednesday, has been hit hard with the last minute cancellations.

A diversion order was issued by the Ministry of Health only hours before the ships, with thousands of passengers on board, were scheduled to arrive in Nuku'alofa.

Anthony Cocker, Deputy CEO of the Destination Development Division, Ministry of Tourism, told Matangi Tonga today that the cruise ships were already on their way to Tonga when they received the order "just before midnight on the day before... and then unfortunately we started contacting those who were affiliated".

“It is a loss for the Ministry [of Tourism] and I think the brunt is with the resorts and those affiliated, the tour guides, the buses, the taxi drivers... you know, this is a loss of income. Some of them had bookings all through the day for their cultural shows, for their lunch program and they had a dinner show as well."

The diversion order was issued by the Ministry of Health because of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak “to prevent the introduction, or spread of a controlled notifiable condition, or other significant threat to public health in the Kingdom”.

With Tonga taking a tough stance in response to the virus, Anthony said they respected the decision made by the Ministry of Health. “Obviously, it deals with public safety and security.”

However, he explained they had all worked to prepare for the cruise ships arrival “and, obviously, some in the tourism industry are upset about this decision, but what can we say. We need to respect the decision given by the Ministry of Health for safety and security.”

Tonga is proving to be popular with the cruise ship industry with the number of cruise ship visits growing steadily over the years.

“Back in 2005 – 2009 we were averaging about 11 cruise ships, now we’re up to 31 this year, and [over] the last two or three years, we’ve been increasing by about four or five ships per year.”

Tonga could suffer a set back within the cruise ship industry after the diversion decision and Anthony believes they will have to strengthen the marketing of Tonga as a cruise ship destination. “We will have to look at strategies to bring them back to Tonga.” He added that cruise ships are definitely welcome in Tonga and hopes more will visit in the future.

Emergency meeting

An emergency steering committee meeting was held this afternoon at the Ministry of Tourism, with representatives from the Ministry of Health, shipping and tour agencies to assess the impact of this decision and look at the future of cruise ships. Dr Reynold 'Ofanoa from the Ministry of Health attended.

Anthony who chaired the meeting, said If there is any future diversions, we need to make some kind of cut-off point, like five days before arrival. "We need to be prepared in time before any cruise ship arrival so that this doesn’t happen again." he said.

Tour operators

One of the Tongatapu tour operators hurt by the last minute nature of the diversions was the Ancient Tonga Cultural Tours at Fangalotu. The manager Jessica Afeaki was expecting at least 300 tourists in total from the cruise ships on three different tours and a buffet dinner booked for yesterday. They will lose thousands of pa'anga she said. Ancient Tonga had expected the first tour group of around 100 to arrive at 8:30 am on Wednesday.

“But we were told at 5:00am in the morning that it was cancelled but it was too late because we had already prepared. We had hired tents, staff and the show practiced, we'd shopped for perishables and cut up the meat.

“We totally understand why Health cancelled but the cruise ships have been scheduled since last year and if they are going to cancel we need to have a bit more warning – at least two or three days in advance would be more appreciated!" she said.

As a mother, Jessica is worried too about the coronavirus epidemic possibly reaching Tonga.

“It's a bit hard. It does worry me because I have a 5 months, 2 year old and 4 year old, and I think about my staff too.”

World Health Organization

The COVID-19 has continued to spread with confirmed cases reaching 44,730, with 1114 deaths inside China and 441 confirmed cases outside of China in 24 countries and 1 death, according to the World Health Organization as at 12 February.

WHO is currently advising all countries put in place public health measures to reduce the risk of the virus being introduced and spreading in a country, without causing unnecessary restriction to the international travel of people and goods.

- Eleanor Gee and Mary Lyn Fonua