Photo: robinh00d / CC BY-ND 2.0
Should a travel company stop what it's doing when crisis erupts—sacrificing its business for the sake of altruistic recovery efforts? Where does a company's responsibility begin and end?
We have been debating and arguing in our office about this since we received a press release yesterday from the Center for Responsible Travel, a well-known do-gooder organization, slamming Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines for mishandling its business in Haiti following the horrifying earthquake.
You probably read last week that Royal Caribbean has continued its cruise stopovers in Labadee, Haiti, where passengers frolic in the waves and sip cocktails on the beach just 90 miles from the earthquake's epicenter. (We blogged about it here and here.) The distasteful images of rich tourists being pampered stirred up a slew of bad publicity for RCCL (as well as some pointed comments from our readers).
In response, RCCL pledged $1 million in aid and 100 percent of the net from its visits to Haiti to the island's recovery. The cruise line also reminded the public that its Labadee stopovers support hundreds of Haitians who work there.
The Center for Responsible Tourism suggests a "more robust" response, including dedicating several of its ships to ferry food, medicine and supplies to relief workers, in addition to using one or more cruise ships as shelter for Haitian refugees and housing displaced Haitians in Labadee.
We all agree that the "optics" of revelry on a Haitian beach are horrifyingly bad—and you sure wouldn't catch me on one of those Labadee cruises. But the problem with the center's recommendations is that Royal Caribbean is a business, not a charity. Not only that, the cruise industry is struggling, still suffering from an unprecedented downturn in business resulting from the economic crisis.
So what do you all think? Should Royal Caribbean turn into a charity because of the tragedy that happened in Haiti?
Complete Haiti Coverage on Truth.Travel
Complete Haiti Coverage on Truth.Travel
They could donate the use of at least one of their ships to ferry supplies, house the displaced, whatever the need, for the initial recovery efforts without going into charity mode. It would provide a much better image than the current "optics."