Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Chairman and CEO Richard D. Fain sent a reassuring video to travel advisors urging calm amid the coronavirus outbreak.
"This is a tough time, a really tough time," he said on the video, recorded next to the Empress of the Seas cruise ship. "It's really easy to think that the world is coming to an end. Well, I have a spoiler alert: It's not."
The 3:33-minute recording was sent to all travel agents of all RCCL's brands.
"The idea started with a letter Richard wrote to our employees late last week along the same lines. You could hear everyone exhale a little; it was the right perspective to hear at the right time," Rob Zeiger, chief communications officer for RCCL wrote in an email. "That gave our sales teams the idea to have Richard do a video version for travel partners. They know they're feeling the same pressures and experiencing the same worries, and they thought it might help them carry on through the situation. It's been well received. We are all in this together."
In the video, Fain urges travel agents to take the virus seriously but not to panic. "As far as the business impact on our business, it ain't pretty," he said. "In fact, to use a technical term I learned in business school, it sucks."
But he reminds travel professionals that the industry has emerged from similar situations before and grew even stronger.
"We've absolutely sailed through rough waters like this before, and we've weathered every storm side-by-side with you," Fain said. "We all vividly remember dealing with all the impacts that 9/11 had on our revenue and on our operations. And remember the last pandemic, the H1N1 flu pandemic of 2009 or the Ebola scare? In each case, it felt, to me at least, that the rough seas were never going to end. But in each case, they did."
He also credited how travel agents continue to rise to each occasion. "Over many years we've witnessed how well all of our travel partners rise to overcome challenges," Fain said. "We've seen your resolve and your determination time and time again. And we're proud to be working alongside you."
He concluded with a quip designed to bring smiles: "And now, make your mother proud and go wash your hands."
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