Jamie Loizou, the ultra-luxury line’s UK managing director, revealed Colombia’s Magdalena River ranked third in terms of sales in March, beating the traditionally popular Nile and Douro waterways.
Ama launched the 60-passenger AmaMagdalena last month, with the 64-passenger AmaMelodia due to start operating on the same river in June.
“It really is cutting-edge what we’re doing out there,” said Loizou.
Highlighting how Ama’s exotics programme “over-indexes” in the UK, Loizou said: “We’re relied on to sell all of our ships – we were 40% up year-on-year for the first quarter.
“We’ve also seen an 18% spike in the number of agents selling our cruises. Our agent partners are really helping us.”
The sales surge comes after Ama recruited Jennifer Shah as a sales executive and expanded its reservations team by 30%. “If things continue as they are, we will look to grow our team,” Loizou continued.
The line reported last year that it was working with more UK agents than ever before.
Ama is currently identifying agents to join two fam trips – one in Bordeaux next month and another on the Upper Danube in July – as well as two more educationals next spring.
“The best thing for agents to do is email our agency support if they want to get a spot,” Loizou explained.
“For us, fam trips are the key to understanding the ‘Ama difference’. This is sometimes difficult to articulate in a webinar or a brochure.
“We know once agents get onboard, we always see a return in investment.”
However, Loizou stressed engaging the agents “before, during and after” the fam was “critical”.
“Some [cruise brands] believe putting agents on fam trips is the be all and end all,” Loizou added.
