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Tunis attack was not aimed at cruise passengers, says CLIA
Last week’s Tunis attack was not targeted at cruise passengers, according to Bud Darr, senior VP of technical and regulatory affairs for CLIA.
Speaking to TravelMole about what the cruise sector is doing to protect the safety of passengers, Darr said he believes the gunmen at the Bardo Museum were looking to kill tourists, not specifically cruise ship guests.
“This is a threat we face on a daily basis,” he said. “It tends to be indiscriminate and in this case the innocent victims were tourists who just happened to get off a cruise ship.”
He said the safety and security of passengers is the top priority for cruise lines and is ‘fundamental to our business’.
Darr said cruise itineraries are continuously reviewed and modified according to security information gathered from a range of resources, including governments, private security professionals and cruise lines’ own internal teams.
Cruise lines also freely share information with their competitors when it comes to passenger protection, he added.
He said following last week’s attack, in which 17 cruise passengers were killed, cruise lines were ‘carefully evaluating’ their processes and ‘will be very diligently looking for higher quality information’.
When asked if cruise lines had considered putting security guards on excursion buses in certain destinations, Darr said he believed this wouldn’t happen.
“It’s far more likely that cruise lines would be inclined not to visit that port at all,” he said. “People generally visit our ships to enjoy themselves and relax.”
He said cruise lines were in close consultation with local law enforcement and other authorities in the destinations they visit.
“It’s never a surprise when a cruise ship arrives and the local authorities know their responsibilities,” he said.
“The safety and security of tourists and travellers is of great importance to local authorities who rely on that for their economies.”
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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