Jack Carter caught up with Jamie Loizou, managing director, AmaWaterways at last week’s CLIA RiverView Conference in Budapest to understand what the line’s upcoming launch on Colombia’s Magdalena River means for agents

How has the 2025 wave season been for Amawaterways?

Wave season has been really strong and we’ve seen very good year-on-year growth. Our agent distribution is expanding, with our average selling price going up, which is really encouraging. January was an all-time record month for bookings out of the UK and Europe.

Are there any regions that are performing particularly well?

We’re seeing a really interesting mix of business, with the ‘exotics’ selling very well. Asia was slow to come back post-pandemic but the Mekong has really taken off. We’re adding another ship there next year and we brought the sailing season forward for 2026 so we start in July rather than August.

France is also selling well for us. The great thing about French river cruising is you get a real immersion because you’re only sailing through one country. People are looking for that cultural and destination immersion. The region is also seeing a post-Olympics bounce. We saw business increase almost instantaneously after the Paris games.

What’s driving that desire for destination immersion?

People really want to make travel count. With a river cruise, you get to visit destinations that you can’t easily access any other way. You get to see these towns and villages where maybe the infrastructure’s not so great, but you’re taking your floating hotel with you so you’re in your own little sanctuary.

The great thing about the exotics is that it attracts not only new-to-river but new-to-cruise as well. People book these cruises that wouldn’t consider doing a river cruise and once you get them in, they understand the concept and it opens them up to the rest of the sector.

You mentioned that average spend is increasing. Does this surprise you given the fact that the country is grappling with a cost of living crisis?

It actually doesn’t. I don’t think travel is the luxury it once was in an expenditure sense. Before, people could take or leave a holiday. Now, people are taking or leaving replacing their car every two years or buying jewellery. Travel means more to people these days. It’s the holidays they remember, not the new car, and that’s great for us.

There are also economic reasons driving this. When the budget came out last November, the government announced taxation on pensions, which means our core market needs to spend their pensions, otherwise there’s going to be inheritance tax on it, which is great for luxury travel.

We saw a post-budget bump which continued into December. It’s almost like we’ve had peaks since November.

The big news for AmaWaterways this year is you’re set to be the first cruise operator to sail the Magdalena River in more than 60 years. What can guests expect?

We are so excited. AmaMagdalena (60 guests) is launching first then AmaMelodia (64 guests) is coming later in the year, with both offering seven-night itineraries from Barranquilla to Cartagena and vice-versa.

There’s so much culture, music, wildlife and biodiversity there. I’ve been told it’s like a cross between a Mekong cruise and a European cruise, because you’ve got these historic cities but also these small towns and beautiful scenic stretches of cruising.

There’s a place called New Venice, which is a floating village, so we’ll be going in and out of there. We will also go to Magengue where there’s a huge national park that’s great for wildlife spotting.

Why should agents be excited about this launch?

It’s going to open river cruising up even more, because travel agents can go to their expedition databases and pitch the Magdalena to people who have been to Galapagos and the polar regions that are looking for something new and unique. Colombia absolutely offers that.

We’re top and tailing our itineraries with trips to Medellin and Panama, so there are opportunities to expand. However, if agents and operators only want to book a seven-night cruise, they can do that and then tailor the pre- and post-experiences themselves.

People aren’t just going to go for a seven-night cruise, they are going to go for two, three maybe even four weeks, so it’s a huge opportunity for agents.