A CRUISE ship gave out a safety warning letter to passengers as they arrived in Belfast, it has emerged.
Tourism officials in the city branded it "unnecessarily alarmist" and urged the cruise operator to "consider softening" its contents.
They expressed concern about it mixing references to possible terror attacks across Europe with "the potential risk of isolated violence" in Belfast.
A complaint about the leaflet was also made to the north's tourist board, Tourism Northern Ireland.
The safety information letter has emerged in records obtained by The Irish News of complaints made in recent years to the tourism body.
It was given to passengers aboard P&O's Azura cruise ship when it arrived in Belfast in June last year ahead of the Twelfth of July.
Cruise ships have become a booming tourism business for Belfast with a record 93 ships expected to dock at the city this year and carrying around 157,000 passengers.
Visit Belfast, which assists cruise ships visiting the city, said it raised concerns about the leaflet.
"We became aware of the a safety information letter passed out to passengers on board P&O's Azura cruise ship on the day it arrived into Belfast," a spokeswoman said.
"Mixing references to both the potential of terrorist attacks across Europe at the time and the potential risk of isolated violence at demonstrations, we felt the wording was unnecessarily alarmist and, along with our partners Belfast Harbour, asked the cruise operator to review and consider softening.
"We are not aware of any other cruise passengers' communications like this."
The spokeswoman added: "Cruise ship communications to their passengers is not routinely shared with Visit Belfast nor its partners and often reflect travel advice provided by the host nation cruise operator's department of travel, such as the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in the UK or the Department of State in the US."
Visit Belfast runs a marketing partnership with Belfast Harbour called Cruise Belfast, which is aimed at attracting cruise business to Belfast and the north.
The Visit Belfast spokeswoman added that feedback from cruise tourists is "generally very positive".
A P&O Cruises spokeswoman said: "The safety, security and welfare of our guests and crew is our absolute priority and a generic safety and security message is always highlighted in our daily Horizon newsletter which is given to all guests.
"However, our corporate procedure which takes advice from various global organisations dictates that additional security measures have to be implemented on occasion at various ports we visit around the world.
"In this instance an additional generic advisory letter is given to all guests and crew on board prior to arriving at the port."
She added that the cruise has one stop in Belfast this year as part of its Norway/Iceland trip and one in 2018, and that passengers on these trips will be will be given only a general safety message.
