The recent reports and scenes of trapped cruise ship passengers, alongside CDC recommendations regarding the new coronavirus, have made many cruise ship companies cancel cruises and would-be passengers reconsider boarding. All of this highlights the fact that tourism is an industry highly vulnerable to public perception of travel risk and the swings of the global economy.

Unfortunately, it is those who labor in the highly vulnerable cruise industry who hold the lion’s share of risk. While reports on the plight of passengers are ubiquitous, those whose work, life and health are the most precarious are the very ones we hear the least about in media reports and economic impact statements. Rarely considered are the cruise ship workers who must continue providing room service and cleaning the notoriously difficult-to-sanitize ships. As passengers tweet pictures of the food, water and medicine being delivered, seldom is there recognition to how the items were delivered via the cruise ship workers, which creates more work and more likelihood that they will contract the virus. Furthermore, as cruise trips around the world are cancelled or unable to dock in ports, cruise ship workers are currently stranded with the fear of losing long-term employment contracts.

Cruise ship workers, a subgroup of seafarers (people who live and work at sea), are already operating in one of the most dangerous global occupations. Seafaring is a global industry that accounts for over 90 percent of our world trade and employs over 1.5 million workers. Fatal injuries are nearly six times the rate of all U.S. occupations and include cardiovascular conditions, work accidents, drownings, vessel disasters, suicides and workplace violence. To put seafarers precarity in perspective amid the current crisis, out of the 21 confirmed cases of COVID-19 from the Grand Princess, 19 were crewmembers. The crewmembers were forced to quarantine and be treated aboard the ship, opposed to the passengers who were allowed to quarantine in land-based facilities that are more prepared for these emergencies.

Notwithstanding the current health crisis, seafarers also face physical and mental health disparities by working past their contractual end date and because of restrictions to crew disembarkment. They may miss valued time with their families between contractual periods as well as be more susceptible to the virus. Cruise ship workers operate on 6-to-9-month contracts that must be continually renewed and many only see their family during the 1-3 months they have off between contracts. According to international maritime law, seafarers have the right to return home at the end of their contractual period, incurring no cost to themselves. Moreover, the procedures to have workers quarantine on board the ship is in contradiction to the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) advice, which is to disembark suspected cases to reduce endangering others and because it is difficult to treat suspected cases on board.

Moreover, the contractual nature of their job creates the potential for contract non-renewal as global tourism demand sinks. A time of pandemic only heightens these inequities as those in the most precarious positions must weigh the painful choice between accepting more personal health risk or familial economic risk. When interviewed, most long-serving cruise ship workers demonstrated a willingness to work in their country of origin if analogous pay could be found. As our own research has shown, seafarers routinely underreport medical conditions and dissatisfactory working conditions for fear of losing work contracts. This is a lesson that is becoming all the clearer as society comes to realize that social distancing means a massive loss of income to those who can least afford it, and that many underpaid workers have long kept our economy strong. While reduction in demand may lead to inevitable job loss, it is imperative that companies take the necessary steps to ensure that the impact on workers lives and health is kept to a minimum. And as for the media and travelers themselves, the time is long overdue to pay more attention to the workers that have long kept this industry afloat.

Guillot-Wright, PhD, is an assistant professor at Center for Violence Prevention, University of Texas Medical Branch. Terry, PhD, is an associate professor at the Department of History, Clemson University.