Last year the firm’s president and chief executive, Larry Pimentel, told delegates at the Clia Conference that Azamara would not be looking to grow, as there was too much capacity in the market.
He reiterated that view during an interview with TTG last week.
“Just look at how many ships are coming,” he said. “Markets figure out how to absorb that, but when they do, rates decline.
“Also, the dollar is really strong against many currencies and that makes it much harder to get the kind of rate you need. In the end if you cannot make a business financially viable, things start to sell, consolidate, move, change.
“We already saw a bit of that happening this year, and you’re going to see companies sold, consolidating and going out of business – it’s started and it’s not done.
“That’s sort of symptomatic of what I’m talking about.
“I believe there will be more consolidation. “Is the industry viable? Yes. Will it continue to grow? Of course. But it’s got to be done gradually, and we’re having two or three years of consecutive mass growth.’
Pimentel said the number of new announcements about new ships we had “heard in the last two and a half years probably exceeds the last decade”.
He added that Azamara had no “preeminent” plans to bring out a new ship, but that it was “highly possible” the line it would grow.
“The luxury sector almost has too much too quick happening, so I’m cautious about growth because I also want to remain profitable,” he said.
“In our case it could happen without much notice.”
This month saw the closure of Swan Hellenic and Voyages of Discovery, with the collapse of All Leisure Group on January 4.
Abta has now begun making refunds totalling £2 million to its clients.
The association bonded around 2,000 of the 4,200 affected clients, with the remainder flight-inclusive packages covered under Atol.
An Abta spokesperson said it would take four to six weeks for all payments to be made.
A CAA spokesperson said that ALG’s Atol liability was still being assessed. “Once we have all the claims in we will know, but a lot of passengers will be covered by credit cards,” he added.
Accountant Grant Thornton said an administrator’s report would be ready in late February or early March.
