In a Tough Year, CLIA Sharpens Its Focus on Safety

This is the second of two parts.

Sustained criticism of the cruise industry from lawmakers and the media has made it apparent to many that the industry needs to focus on more than promoting cruise vacations.

“As an industry, and as CLIA, we need to do a better job educating all our constituents,” CLIA president and CEO Christine Duffy said last week.

Duffy, who joined CLIA in early 2011, reflected on her time as head of CLIA in an interview with Travel Market Report.

Safety has been a top priority, she said. But she has also focused on adapting CLIA to a more global marketplace and its new global focus.

Duffy also discussed CLIA’s role supporting travel agents amid widespread concerns about cruise safety.

Since you joined CLIA it has been a particularly tumultuous period for the cruise industry. Can you reflect on your time in office?
Duffy: The [safety] issues that the industry has dealt with since January 2013 have been a primary focus for me.

While CLIA for many years has had policies in place, we have now instituted a CEO verification program. Every [cruise line member] CEO must verify their implementation of CLIA policies and how they relate to operational management.

These are not just PR initiatives; this is self-regulation that has been implemented much more quickly than regulators would have been able to do in the same amount of time.

Let me get this straight. If a cruise line member does not adhere to CLIA regulations, they will have to leave CLIA?
Duffy: It’s a condition of membership. If someone can’t meet a policy, there is a cure period. They have to submit in writing to CLIA when they will remediate and be able to verify their compliance. If they can’t, it is a condition of membership.

We think this [verification] is an important distinction. This idea that CLIA is now global – we’ve moved from 26 lines to 59 lines – is very positive, because we’ve got a level of consistency and accountability. For those cruise lines that aren’t members of CLIA, people are going to ask, ‘Why not? Are you not following all the same policies?’ It’s a little bit like being a CLIA-certified travel agent.

When you look back, is there anything you could have been more effective at?
Duffy: As an industry, and as CLIA, we need to do a better job educating all our constituents.

In today’s environment, you can’t just talk about promoting cruise vacations. We also have to talk to agents about how they respond to questions and concerns, especially from cruise rookies. That’s an area that has to become a part of our process and part of what agents can count on and expect from us.

When we spoke in January, you had just announced that CLIA was going global. Where does that initiative stand?
Duffy: We announced that 2013 would be the year of implementation and we’re in that process. We’ve more than doubled CLIA staff in Europe and launched CLIA Europe. We’re working closely with our team in Asia, and we’ll probably have an announcement to make about Asia in the fall. We’re also looking to announce two other European chapters before the end of the year – CLIA Italy and CLIA Spain.

There are things you don’t anticipate, so we’re still working through some mechanics.

What’s your sense of how the cruise industry is doing in 2013?
Duffy: Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian reported earnings in the last week and they’re doing quite well relative to last year at the same time.

We’ve seen some very exciting new ships come into the market that have gotten a lot of positive attention from passengers. What we see in cruise product aligns with societal trends – multigenerational travel, more activity options, more dining choices, new destinations. I think the ability of the cruise industry to keep in step with consumer trends is why we see success.

The big opportunity ahead is to get to cruise rookies and people who have not cruised before. Certainly travel agents are important for us to do that.

See Part One: CLIA: ‘We’re Making Significant Investments for Agents’