Now the luxury river cruise line’s managing director, several of the decisions Loizou has made in recent months are starting to pay dividends.

AmaWaterways’ ongoing “Sell Five, Sail Free” booking incentive is driving trade sales, he says, while also encouraging agents to experience the line first-hand.

In fact, according to Loizou, a “good proportion” of the 500 UK agents that boarded an Ama ship last year earned a cabin through the incentive.

To meet increasing demand for cruises from the UK market in the past few months, Loizou has expanded the reservations team by 50%.

And last year, to support and grow sales partnerships, he recruited a “great asset” and a familiar face to many cruise agents – Andrea Stafford – from Scenic and Emerald Cruises as AmaWaterways’ UK and Europe sales director.

“We’ve always been trade-focused,” Loizou tells TTG. “Around 90% of our business comes through the trade. 2023 was a very good year as trade sales were up 46% versus 2019.”

Efforts to maintain existing sales relationships and identify new ones are clearly working; the line saw a 78% spike in the number of new agent partners in the UK in 2023. “The UK market is performing very strongly – it’s our biggest market in Europe,” notes Loizou.

“But we’ve seen an uptick across all territories. River cruise is widening its appeal, so there’s a huge amount of education that needs to be done.”

Educating agents

Here, Loizou is not only referring to AmaWaterways, but the wider river sector. “There are lots of misconceptions around river cruising,” he says.

“River cruise is an immersive way to see a lot at once. We need to talk more about the experiences on offer. A river cruise compares incredibly favourably to a centrally located hotel in a city – and there’s more education that we can do around that point.”

He hails the work Clia does around river cruise to boost agents’ river product knowledge. “Clia is hugely supportive [of river lines],” says Loizou.

One example is Clia’s RiverView conference next month – a key date in the diary for river cruise-selling agents, both large and small. “We have the river cruise conference in Amsterdam. Clia has gone for a larger venue [than in previous years] to accommodate more people,” Loizou says.

New river

Agents attending RiverView will no doubt hear about AmaWaterways’ eagerly anticipated expansion into Colombia. The line will launch the first of two ships on the Magdalena River in November.

The 60-passenger AmaMagdalena ship will operate seven-night itineraries on the river, which Loizou claims has not seen any commercial cruise activity since the 1960s. The slightly larger AmaMelodia vessel will follow in June 2025.

“The exotic regions are selling really well – Africa, Nile and Colombia,” Loizou notes. “We are tapping into the soft-adventure market. People seem to be looking for something different.”

Loizou believes the Magic of Colombia and the Wonders of Colombia itineraries are “a good opportunity” to see the South American country in a far more immersive way.

He reveals guests will be able to birdwatch from hard-bottomed boats stationed along Magdalena, which are operated separately to the main river ship. They can each carry around 20 passengers. 

Ahead of the November launch, AmaWaterways’ president Rudi Schreiner and executive vice-president Kristin Karst have pushed the line’s sales bosses to build relationships with “around half a dozen” Latin American tour operators. “It’s an opportunity to widen our distribution,” explains Loizou. “They’ve either come to us or we’ve gone to them – and we’ve had conversations with them.”

Wave success

Until 31 March, AmaWaterways is offering free flights and overseas transfers, plus savings of up to £1,500 per couple on select 2024 and 2025 cruises as part of its wave campaign. The number of select departures included in the offer has gone up this year, reveals Loizou, who adds there’s also a complimentary upgrade to business class flights for any suite bookers.

“We know we’re tapping into the luxury audience with this offer,” says Loizou. “It’s important our promotions are simple to understand. We’re very happy with our performance so far.”

When we speak midway through January, Loizou reveals bookings are 116% up year on year.

He clearly knows how to create a wave campaign that resonates with the trade after more than 20 years working for travel agencies, operators and cruise lines alike.