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Hong Kong’s ‘cruises to nowhere’ keeping laid-off tourism, service workers afloat with new jobs
- Genting Cruise Lines has so far hired more than 100 Hongkongers as crew members
- About 40,000 vaccinated passengers have taken a break from the pandemic by taking the short cruises, which launched on July 30
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Hong Kong’s cruises to nowhere have cast a lifeline to tourism and service industry workers who lost their jobs during the coronavirus pandemic.
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Genting Cruise Lines, which runs the Genting Dream ship from the city, has about a dozen Hongkongers among its crew of 1,300, with 100 more set to join in the coming months.
Jax Yip Chun-nam, 28, joined the ship not long after being laid off from his job as a duty-free salesman at Hong Kong International Airport.
“I’ve been on the job for about a month now, and I honestly love it,” Yip said, adding that he was particularly fond of working with his new international teammates.
“If it wasn’t for the pandemic, I would never have considered a career on a cruise ship.”
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Hong Kong-listed Genting is the only operator running cruises to nowhere from the city. Over the past two months, the Genting Dream has sailed out 27 times, taking about 40,000 passengers on two- or three-day round trips.
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