Australia's cruise ship ban extended by another three months

The ban on cruise ships operating around Australia has been extended by another three months.

In March, the Federal Government imposed a ban on both domestic and international cruises which was due to be lifted next week on December 17.

The industry recently launched a campaign to convince the government to allow domestic trips, however cruises have been deemed still too high-risk to resume.

READ MORE: Aussie companies call for urgent re-start of cruise industry

Jean Summers from Clean Cruising said the period from December to March is "the most critical time for this industry for the next 12 months".

"If the ships don't sail at all through that period we're now looking at one and a half years of no ships sailing, and there's nothing that this industry can do to recover from that," Ms Summer said.

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The industry is worth $5 billion, employs 25,000 people in the country, and tens of thousands more worldwide.

The largest coronavirus outbreak in NSW was linked to the Ruby Princess cruise ship, which saw about 900 infections and 28 deaths.

In Japan, hundreds of people contracted the virus on Diamond Princess ship and passengers and crew were quarantined on board.