AmaWaterways has hailed an “exceptional” start to the year in spite of ongoing conflict in the Middle East, with sales chiefs noting agents have a “huge opportunity in Europe”

Jamie Loizou, managing director for international markets, said the line has seen strong results in the first four months of 2026, saying AmaWaterways is trading 28 per cent up year on year.

Shoulder season sailings have been a focus for the brand this year with an expanded February departure programme, prompting a 150 per cent increase in sales compared to last February, while Rhone River departures in the first four months of the year were up 100 per cent, Amawaterways president, Catherine Powell, added.

Loizou told Cruise Trade News the line saw a slight slow down in bookings when the war in Iran began, but said demand is returning, and Europe is now an excellent opportunity for agents.

“We have seen an exceptional start to the year in terms of sales from the UK, trading 28 per cent up compared to last year,” he said.

“There was a slight slowdown right when the war broke our but that has now picked up again. It’s not quite back to where it was, but we can certainly see that demand coming back which is good.

“We have also seen some guests who were planning on travelling further afield now pivoting into Europe, and this is a huge opportunity for agents to target those customers who are now nervous about travelling east because of the war and increased flight costs to concentrate on those sailings closer to home.”

The line, which will grow from 31 to 50 ships by 2032, recently expanded its UK sales team with three new appointments. Loizou said the team is poised to grow further if sales continue at their current rate.

“I’ve got no doubt the UK sales team will expand even more if sales continue on their current trajectory,” he added.

Pressed on where these new ships would be sailing, Loizou remained tight lipped, but did say that the line’s presence in Columbia would be used as the “blueprint” for upcoming deployment, suggesting more exotic locations might be on the cards.

Loizou went on to praise the performance of travel agents in the first half of the year, saying the line has grown its agent distribution by 20 per cent compared to last year, a figure which he intends on topping this year, he added.

More than 600 agents were welcomed on board AmaWaterways vessels in March alone this year, with an increased ship visit programme in the works for next year, Loizou confirmed.

“It’s always to objective to grow the number of agent partners we work with,” he said. “We traded 28 per cent up from January through to April in the UK in spite of headwinds and that’s due to our great relationships with our travel agent partners.

“From our perspective, getting our agent partners to experience the product is really, really important because there is a lot of noise out there in the river cruise market and we really want the trade to underatand what our difference is.

“Next year’s ship visit programme will be bigger than this year’s, for sure.”