Saga has revealed that it has refunded a total of £44m to customers for cancelled holidays up until August.

For cruise, “customer loyalty has been exceptional”, Saga said, with advance receipts at the end of May standing at£43m. This is £5m lower than at the end of March but “well ahead of expectations”.

In addition, it has retained more than 70 per cent of advance receipts on cancelled cruise departures and new bookings for next year have been “very positive”.

In a statement, the company stated: “The group continues to expect some travel to resume this year; retention levels continue to be high, particularly in cruise, and a significant number of changes have been made to how the travel businesses operate to provide peace of mind and ensure the safety of customers and colleagues.

“The group has been working with industry bodies and the government to establish operational practices that would enable a return of operations in both tour and cruise businesses as the current restrictions are lifted. The group’s new mid-sized ships are ideally placed to offer ‘safe sailing’ and all these measures will be in place by the end of August.”

The company also revealed that “the latest indication” is that Spirit of Adventure will be delivered by the end of October.

Saga group CEO Euan Sutherland said: “Saga has made good progress against the priorities set last year and we have accelerated this change given the backdrop of the covid-19 crisis. We have been clearly focused on serving our customers and keeping colleagues safe through this period of major disruption.

“Our insurance business has been resilient and continues to make progress while within travel, more than 70 per cent of cruise guests have moved their booking to later sailings, showing the continued demand for our specialist boutique offer.

“I want to thank all our colleagues for their hard work and our customers for the loyalty they have shown to Saga. What is clear is that we play a really important role in the lives of our customers and this underlines my belief in the strength of the brand.

“I am excited about what we will be able to achieve with a tighter focus on differentiated products and the right investment in strengthening our digital capabilities and driving our brand and membership proposition.”