‘Missing in (Cruise-) Action’: Exploring Missing Passenger Incidents on Board Cruise Ships

The number of missing persons on cruise ships has risen over the last few years. Between 2006 and 2015 the average number of missing persons per year was 21.4. However, from 2011 to 2015 the number ascended to an average of 23 missing people a year (including ferry boat incidents). This paper attempts to explore this type of incident and possibly shed some light on the recorded increase of such occurrences in the cruise sector. A two-step qualitative-explorative research approach is adopted. First, a critical incident analysis (abbr. CIA) was conducted in order to identify the tentative factors influencing the occurrence of such incidents. Following its construction, the tentative model was enriched (and its validity was tested) by subjecting it and discussing it with experts using semi-structured interviews. After evaluating all hypotheses, we concluded that there is no disproportionate (compared to the overall cruise passenger growth) increase in terms of missing persons on board of cruise ships. Nevertheless, safety measures need to be updated as, at the end of the day, a missing passenger is one too many!