NEWS THE INTERVIEW


DARR’S CAREER


to good solutions to help manage tourism flows, which quite honestly are often overstated with cruise and understated with others. It’s our job to acknowledge that we all have a problem. If a community feels like their tourism is unmanaged and that we are a component of that, we have to be part of the solution and not just complain. Working with communities is going to be a bigger and bigger part of what we do. When it comes to tourist taxes,


it’s quite problematic. [A tax] is appropriate if it’s going to pay for infrastructure which is going to make a better experience for the community and guests, but if it’s just to raise revenue, it tends to be quite counterproductive.


Darr on . . . pandemic recovery If you ever really want to understand your business, try shutting it down and restarting it again. Having gone through that experience with the company I worked for at the time [MSC Group], it was one of those examples of ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’. We came back as a better, stronger industry, and so much smarter about


travelweekly.co.uk


how to manage what works and what doesn’t. If we had a similar set of circumstances in the future, we would apply so much of what we learnt and be better prepared.


Darr on . . . the future There are 67 ships on order for our ocean-going members right now, compared to 51 a year before. It is a sign of tremendous optimism – not only from the cruise sector but also from the investment community – that this is an industry that has a lot of opportunity to continue to grow, which we have to do in a sustainable and meaningful way. We are anticipating a record


year for passengers for 2024 and estimating 44 million in 2030, compared to 31.7 million in 2023.


Darr on . . . the trade If there’s one segment of our community that perhaps knows me less, it is the travel advisors. But I want to assure them that I always knew about them. I know how important they are as 70% of cruises today are sold by travel advisors. I want to do my very best to


try and inherently build a sense of community even greater than it


was before and for them to connect with us even more than they have already. We want to make sure we’re providing true value to them, because we can all succeed together.


Darr on . . . hurdles Geopolitical disruption is going to continue to be a factor in our personal and commercial lives. At an event recently, someone said


it feels like we’re not moving from one black swan to another, but instead that we’ve got a flock of black swans to deal with. These events are hard to predict and can last for an unpredictable and sometimes very long time. Fortunately, our assets are mobile, unlike a resort, for example, which can’t be moved to another location. But [amending a schedule] isn’t


an easy thing to do, because the lead times on planning itineraries and then marketing them are 12 to 30 months. It takes effort to do that well, but we have been very adaptable and we will continue to be nimble.


Watch the interview with Bud Darr in full at travelweekly.co.uk


O1983: Starts a six-year career in the US Navy. He begins as a nuclear propulsion engineering trainee and progresses to nuclear propulsion supervisor on the USS Baton Rouge.


O1993: Moves to work for the US Coast Guard, finishing his nine years there as deputy chief and attorney in the office of maritime and international law.


O2010: Begins his first stint at Clia as director of technical and regulatory affairs, environmental and health before moving to senior vice-president of technical and regulatory affairs.


O2017: Becomes group executive vice-president of maritime policy and government affairs at MSC.


O2025: Rejoins Clia as president and chief executive.


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