Travel Forward 2020: Cruise – Technology can save it

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Welcome to our news and blog section. Here you will find the latest updates from theICEway and our IT specialists at ICE. We are frequently invited to attend and speak at industry events, so if you don’t want to miss out on those, this is the page for you.

With more than 20 years’ worth of experience in cruise, travel and healthcare, you will also be able to read more about these key sectors. Of course, at the heart of it all is Information Technology – which some of you may know as ‘IT’ – and we’ll certainly include news on that.

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Travel Forward 2020: Cruise – Technology can save it

Earlier this month, Co-Founder and CEO of theICEway Ian Richardson participated in this virtual event from the World Travel Market. Here is a snippet of what was discussed during the 'Cruise – Technology can save it!' panel...

Moderated By Ian Richardson (theICEway)

Speakers: Nicholas Belle (Independent Consultant), Duncan McSporran (Kognitiv Spark), Dan Pearson (Canopy Tools Group)

Richardson began his moderating duties with a reflection on the cruise industry’s incredible rise, stating that “over the last 5 years, up until 2020, cruise has been the fastest growing sector in the travel industry.”

Of course, the arrival of Covid-19 put an end to that growth and the speakers subsequently set about the task of discussing how technology might be used to effectively bring cruise back in a way that adheres to the new requirements set out within the EU Healthy Gateways document and the Healthy Sail Panel (HSP) report, amongst others.

These tech leaders spoke about a bio-secure framework that they have designed to tackle 5 of the 74 recommendations in the HSP report:

Testing / screening
Sanitisation & ventilation
Destination & Excursion planning
Mitigating risks for crew members
Response, contingency planning & execution

The focus shifted towards the three main components of the framework and how it will be deployed at embarkation in port, on board the ship and then again at any stop-over ports to help manage potential outbreaks during the cruise, with notable mentions of thermal cameras, questionnaires and smart devices all playing a key role.

Seeing as the various cruise lines are all 100% committed to testing for both crew and passengers, the solution brought forth by Belle, McSporran and Pearson certainly seems to be one that could help moving forwards, as it has already within the maritime defence arena, and you can watch the video in full below to find out more.

Watch the video

Ian Richardson will be attending the International Cruise Summit 2020, where he will be speaking on Wednesday 2nd December at 15:45 on the role of IT in keeping cruising safe - don't miss out!