These are tough times – pre-Covid, the operator took 8,675 passengers from the UK, achieving a record £3.8 million pre-tax profit in 2018.
Nevertheless, chief executive Glen Mintrim points out that even in this scenario, the operator expects to break even this year after introducing European tours and reducing its UK staff from 80 to 24.
“Going into 2020, forward bookings were up 25%," Mintrim recalls. "Nobody realised how bad it would get. It sank in in March/April with our cherry blossom tours [to Japan]. We had 1,500 booked in April. We had to cancel them in 2020 and 2021."
