Tiffany’s Blog

Earlier this week I took Robert French’s advice to watch one of the many news channels.  Nancy Grace was on CNN and she was interviewing Lanny Davis, legal counsel for Royal Caribbean Cruise Line.  The interview focused on the disappearance of George Smith, the newlywed that suspiciously disappeared while on a Royal Caribbean cruise.

With the heightened number of publicized travel related disappearances, I am curious as to how the various travel companies have handled, and are handling these incidents from a PR standpoint.

These incidents are, in my opinion, a PR crisis for the travel industry.  It is clear that some major PR work is needed to regain the sense that traveling is a leisure activity and vacationers should not have to fear for their safety.  

After watching Grace’s interview and realizing the potentially detrimental effects such incidents could have on the travel industry, I did some research to find out how some of the disappearances have been handled.  Specifically I looked at the George Smith disappearance.

In Grace’s interview Davis confirmed that videos from the July incident have yet to be reviewed, and Grace questioned the timeliness of the investigation.  There was also some controversy regarding photos taken of Smith’s cabin.  I agree with Grace in questioning the timeliness of the investigation.  The claims that the videos have not been reviewed discredit the concern that Royal Caribbean claims to have regarding Smith’s disappearance.  If they were as concerned as they are making themselves out to be, the videos would have found their way into the investigation over the last six months.  In the interview with Davis, I got the impression that Royal Caribbean is not disclosing all the available information, which leads me to believe they may be hiding something.

Andria Hall, former CNN anchor, moderated a discussion with a panel of experts on the subject of “Crisis Communications for the Tourism Industry” at the annual Caribbean Tourism Conference.  Some of the points made by those presenting were that the tourism industry needs to have a head start on crises and have a plan prepared, and this plan needs to be available to the public.  They also need to have an ongoing relationship with the media, and should disclose all information to the public. 

I completely agree with these points/suggestions.  These are simple and obvious fundamentals of handling the PR aspects of a crisis.  Royal Caribbean seems to have neglected these fundamentals and is taking some heat as a result.