Q1 2022 Lindblad Expeditions Holdings Inc Earnings Call
Good day and welcome to the Lindblad expeditions incorporated first quarter 2022 financial results Conference call. All participants will be in a listen only mode should you need assistance. Please signal conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions to ask a question you May press star.
Then one on your Touchtone phone and to withdraw your question. Please press Star then two please note. This event is being recorded I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Craig <unk>. Please go ahead Sir.
Thank you Chuck good morning, everyone and thank you for joining us for limb blood 2022 first quarter earnings call with me on the call today is adult Burley Lindblad Chief Executive Officer will begin with some opening comments and then I will follow with some details on our financial results and liquidity before we open the call for Q&A you can find our latest earnings release.
In the Investor Relations section of our website.
Before we get started let me remind everyone that the company's comments today may include forward looking statements those expectations are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results and performance to be materially different from these expectations. The company cannot guarantee the accuracy of any forecast or estimates and we undertake no.
<unk> to update any such forward looking statements.
You would like more information on the risks involved in forward looking statements. Please see the company's SEC filings. In addition, our comments may reference non-GAAP financial measures a reconciliation of the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures and other associated disclosures are contained in the company's earnings release and with that out of the way, let me turn the call over to Doug.
Thanks, Craig and good morning, everyone and thanks for joining US today I recently penned a letter to our shareholders for our annual report and I started with an expression of gratitude gratitude as the leading sentiment that I feel for our tremendously hard working team I also wanted to express gratitude to our many partners in the travel industry across.
The world, who help us execute our business and perhaps most importantly, I want to convey thanks to our guests who have been so loyal and steadfast in their zeal for expedition travel with Lindblad expeditions as we navigate this final phase of ramping back up to full operations as a company.
You may recall that at the end of 'twenty 'twenty. One we had nine of our 10 owned shifts back in action and I'm happy to report that starting with the Orion April trips to French Polynesia, all of our ships are back to taking guests to the world's remarkable destinations, having all our owned ships sailing and all of our land.
Companies back to operating in nearly all of their key geographies is something that we have worked for a long time to achieve this accomplishment combined with the strength of future bookings, which I will describe further in a few minutes our sources of great optimism for our team.
Q1 was metaphorically a tale of two cities quarter for US let me begin with some very positive highlights the Antarctica season was a great success. Unlike many other companies we were able to complete all voyages in our schedule. Despite the rapid spread of the omicron variance at the time, we maintained our strict.
The protocols with regard to vaccination requirements pre embarkation testing daily symptom checks onboard crew testing cleaning routines and mask requirements and common areas and as a result, we saw very few cases of COVID-19 on our ships and those that did occur were mild.
Our new state of the art polar ships, the national geographic endurance and the National Geographic resolution performed even better than we expected from a marine and technical perspective, we have been particularly excited about what the ex power design is meant for handling the sometimes to mortuary Drake passage in.
And the ships polar ice class five rating has allowed us to explore deeper into the ice than ever before this provides our expedition staff opportunity to deliver even more exciting guest experiences from an expedition content standpoint also guest feedback has been extremely positive with regard to the quality of food.
Food beverage and hotel accommodations aboard these ships there.
The very positive PR and social media commentary associated with these new shifts meant that we saw booking levels increase over the course of last season.
And we're well on our way to completely booking be ships for the upcoming 2022 2023 Antarctic season.
There's perhaps no better way to cap off the comments related to these new ships then to share with you a couple of examples of what their advanced capabilities have meant and will mean for the future.
You may recall that as I described in the last earnings call. Our guests were able to disembark onto the almost never visited Peter One island in Antarctica and also see a large part of fin whales from the endurance. These were phenomena that were previously almost unheard of in our long history and they were the direct result of the polar class five capabilities, which have.
Broadens the range of environments in which the ship can operate a further demonstration of these capabilities is now underway as we find that we are able to explore deeper along routes in the northwest passage in the Arctic given the ability of these ships to handle the ice.
What these new ships mean for our guests is that they will have the ability to see more wildlife and experience. These polar regions in the different light snow and ice conditions that are inherent in the different phases of the polar seasons for wildlife and photographic enthusiasts. This view that presents a range of new possibilities.
And thrills.
While it was a very successful quarter across our ships operationally the omicron variant did impact our overall occupancy and financial results, Craig who will provide some more color in a moment, but we did see a meaningful number of guests in Q1 and to a lesser extent in Q2 up to move their trips to later in 2022.
Two or 2023, while cancellation rates and cash refunds were relatively low a fair amount of revenue was rescheduled to later dates.
Speaking of future booking levels, we continue to be very pleased with the pace of bookings for both the back half of 2022 and the full year of 2023.
When compared with the same date in 2019, which is most relevant given it was pre pandemic bookings for the back half of 'twenty 'twenty. Two are 50% ahead of bookings for what was the back half of 2019 and bookings for the full year 2023, or 32% of bookings for what was the full year two.
20.
These strong growth numbers reflect our increased capacity the positive impact of guests who have been rescheduled from prior periods and a robust booking environment with particular strength in Alaska, and Antarctica across boot, both new and existing ships.
The growth in bookings during the second half of the year would have been even stronger if not for the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Over the course of Q2 Q3, and Q4, we had eight voyages scheduled to touch Russia, Russia with most nearly sold out at strong pricing levels, including several high demand strips to the northeast passage, we canceled all of these voyages and in keeping with our tradition of staying nimble we.
We rerouted these expeditions to other itineraries I'm happy to say that the majority of our guests opt guests opted to remain booked with us either rescheduling for alternative trips such as the northwest passage or waiting to see what future future travel opportunities might appeal to them.
We are also seeing really strong booking momentum across our land companies as guests want to explore all the world has to offer after being limited. These past several years, we dramatically increased our addressable market last year with the acquisitions that you find cycling an adventure off the beaten path and classic journeys and the pent up demand there.
Travel with these companies as well as natural habitat is evident.
Growing these land companies is an important part of our strategy towards becoming the leading adventure travel platform company in the world.
An important part of reaching our expanded debenture company platform goal or the digital initiatives, we are driving inside the company since the beginning of the year. We have made significant strides forward in our progress towards launching our new reservation system and its targeted for completion by the end of this year. This transition along with our new CRM and.
The new website and marketing analytics capabilities will bring our marketing sophistication to a whole new level since launching our new website last year, we have installed a suite of analytical tools, which helps monitor website search paid search and social media performance. Although we are still in the initial phases of utilizing this array of tools.
I am confident that we will be able to drive incremental guest traffic to our ships and land companies and do so in a more cost effective matter manner as the full power of this technology investment is realized.
Also excited about some recent developments for our Galapagos and itineraries first I'm pleased to announce that we have successfully renewed the coupons promote myths that allow us to operate our ships in this unique geography for a period of 20 more years, we have a long history with the Galapagos, having first taking guests there back in 19.
67, and I couldn't be happier to be able to continue to visit and also support the islands and its people for decades to come.
The other big development for the Galapagos. This past quarter was the marketing launch of the National Geographic island or to a significant portion of her renovation was completed in Denmark last month and she is on her way to the Galapagos, where she will welcome her first guests in August .
This replacement for the National Geographic Islander represents a meaningful upgrade and comfort cabin accommodations and food and beverage capabilities for our guests. This is our first all suite ship and it will provide spacious and elegant accommodations along with highly functional expedition capabilities for our guests.
The initial response to our marketing of this new vessel from guests and travel agents has been very enthusiastic.
Before finishing I always like to tell you something about what we're doing towards our mission, which includes get educating guests about the planet pristine environments and the importance of our efforts related to some environmental sustainability.
In Q1, we had a highlight which was to once again welcome. The good morning America News crew onto one of our ships in this case the national geographic Endeavour II. She became the host ship for their series in the Galapagos on climate change and biodiversity.
The opportunity to be part of educating nearly 4 million people about this remarkable place and our help and our part in helping preserve it was a proud moment for our brand and.
In closing I would like to reiterate the optimism that I have for the adventure travel industry and our company, particularly.
Guests on our ships and across our land adventures continued to have exhilarating and educational experiences across a variety of offerings on these trips one can feel their enthusiasm to be back out in the world in remote and remarkable places and with others, who are like minded with.
With a strong booking base that is a familiar mix of repeat and new guests and expanded fleet and a diverse family of product offerings. We are poised to capitalize on this enthusiasm in the months and years ahead.
I began this call with the theme of gratitude and in closing my portion now I would like to thank you for listening and now turn the call over to Craig. Thanks Dov.
It's certainly exciting to have all 10 of our ships back providing unforgettable experiences to our guests and I would like to once again, thank everyone across our fleet operations and offices, who work so hard to make this possible.
Their diligence and dedication that has enabled us to ramp our operations, so quickly and successfully and which has positioned us to begin realizing the expanded earnings power of the company.
As expected first quarter results were significantly impacted by the omicron berrien, but we have ample liquidity to weather any immediate headwinds as we further ramp up operations.
More importantly, the investments we have made during the pandemic to expand our fleet capacity and diversify our product offerings has significantly increased our earnings potential from pre pandemic levels. So we are primed to capitalize on the growing demand for authentic adventure travel.
During the quarter, we further strengthened our balance sheet with the refinancing of our existing term loan, including the main street facility as well as our revolving credit facility through the issuance of 675% notes that mature in 2027 as.
As we mentioned previously the issuance was over seven times subscribed, which speaks to the attractiveness of our business model and the earnings power of the business coming out of the pandemic.
This issuance along with a new undrawn $45 million revolving credit facility also maturing in 2027 provides us additional financial flexibility as we ramp operations and explore additional growth opportunities.
Turning to our current financial position overall, we ended the first quarter with $155 million in unrestricted cash and $30 million in restricted cash primarily related to deposits on voyages that originate in the United States and credit card reserves, the $185 million of total cash increased 12.
Millions versus the end of the year, reflecting $8 5 million in net cash received for the debt refinancing and cash from operations of $9 9 million driven by positive earnings at the ship level significant guest payments for upcoming voyages and deposits for future travel, partially offset by increased operating cash usage.
As we prepare to additional shifts for selling and increased marketing spend to drive future bookings.
The change in cash during the quarter also reflected principal and interest payments of $9 4 million and Capex spending of $7 5 million, primarily due to renovations on the national geographic island, or two and spending on our digital initiatives.
Looking at the current booking environment as Dov mentioned, we continue to see significant reservations for future travel as we discussed on our last call. We did see a ratchet up in cancellations in December and early January related to the omicron variant for travelers booked in the first half of 2022, but the majority of those guests have already read.
Booked for future travel.
Since early January bookings every week have significantly exceeded bookings in the same week in 2019 and there is no question that there is significant pent up demand to get out and explore the worlds amazing geographies.
Turning to the P&L Lindblad delivered first quarter revenue of $67 8 million versus only $1 8 million in the same period a year ago.
The current quarter included $50 3 million at the Lindblad segment from operating shifts predominantly in Antartica. The Galapagos in Central America, and $17 6 million at Heartland experienced segment led by natural habitats Latin America at Northern White strips.
The revenue in the quarter did face headwinds from the guests, who reschedule their voyages and trips due to omicron as well as from the cancellation of three voyages in Baja due to permit timing related to governmental changes in Mexico.
The EBITDA loss of $21 2 million during the first quarter was in line with the loss generated a year ago as the revenue of the current year was offset by an increase of $66 3 million in operating expenses before depreciation and amortization interest and taxes.
The higher cost base was led by $49 7 million increase in cost of tours, primarily related to the ramp in ship expeditions, which included charter flights as part of our profitable antartica season, and higher fuel costs due to increased pricing and usage.
Higher cost of tours also included increased spending as we prepared additional shifts for operations and expenses related to operating additional land based strips at natural habitat.
Sales and marketing costs increased $9 8 million versus the first quarter, a year ago due to higher commissions related to the increase in revenue and from increased marketing spend to drive future bookings focusing on search rich media video social advertising and direct mail as well as increased outreach through trade advertising and.
Travel advisors.
This marketing spend is one of the drivers behind the booking pace, we are seeing for late 2002 and 2023.
We have also further ramped up spending in our digital initiatives, including additional development of our new reservation system and CRM capabilities.
G&A spending increased $6 8 million, excluding stock based compensation and one time items versus the first quarter a year ago, primarily due to higher personnel costs as we ramp operations and increased credit card commissions related to final payments for upcoming itineraries and higher deposits on new reservations for future travel.
The higher G&A also reflects the inclusion of a full quarter of expenses for Dubai and off the beaten path, which were acquired in the first quarter a year ago and classic journeys, which was acquired in October of 2021.
These acquired businesses are seasonal with the bulk of their profitability in the spring and summer months.
Total company net loss available to common stockholders in the quarter was $43 million or <unk> 85 cents per diluted share versus net loss available to common stockholders of $34 5 million or <unk> 66 per diluted share reported in the first quarter a year ago.
The $8 $5 million decline reflects the ramp in operations and $11 6 million in other income due to the utilization of the remainder of the stressed grant which were more than offset by investments in future growth $10 9 million of costs related to the debt refinancing $3 million of additional interest expense associated with increased.
Borrowings mostly related to the delivery of the national geographic resolution as well as higher rates and a $3 million increase in depreciation related primarily to the launch of the National Geographic resolution in September of 2021, along with accelerated depreciation on the National Geographic Islander, which is being replaced later this year.
Looking ahead briefly to the rest of 2022, we are excited to have all of our own ships operating again Q2 should see a dramatic improvement from Q1, but will still be impacted by the omicron related rescheduling from early in the year as well as changes to itineraries on the explorer and the endurance due to the Russia, Ukraine conflict.
Right.
We do anticipate we do anticipate returning to profitability in Q3, despite the rescheduling of voyages across the endurance, the Orion and the resolution due to this conflict in the third quarter.
Overall, we couldn't be more excited by the operating momentum across our fleet and diverse land businesses much of the world has reopened in the key strategic advantages we have built most notably the size of our ships and the relationships. We have cultivated globally over the last four decades have enabled us to ramp our operations quickly and effectively most importantly, the guest.
Spots to the resumption of travel has been phenomenal and the future booking trends highlight the significant demand to return to exploring these amazing locations. While it will still take some time to surpass pre pandemic levels with a strong cash position supporting an expanded fleet and a broader platform of growth businesses. We are well situated to deliver increased.
Shareholder value in the months and years ahead.
Thank you for your time this morning, and how dolphin I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.
We will now begin the question and answer session.
To ask a question you May press Star then one on your touch tone phone if youre using a speakerphone. Please pick up your handset before pressing the keys.
Withdraw your question. Please press Star then two and at this time, we'll pause momentarily to assemble our roster.
And the first question will come from Steve Wise Henske with Stifel. Please go ahead.
Yeah, Hey, guys good morning.
So so Craig it off wondering if you could maybe help us break down the $21 million EBITDA loss in the quarter and what I mean by that is wondering if you could help us with.
With how that cadence how the cadence of those losses looked through the quarter just trying to understand if the cadence from an EBITDA perspective improved through the quarter and then maybe how April I'm not sure you're going to say this but you know how April looked.
As well and I guess the underlying question here as you know Craig you talked about turning EBITDA positive in the third quarter.
And then maybe how we should think about.
You guys, turning free cash flow positive and maybe when that inflection point can happen as well.
Sure. Thanks, Steve are a few things there to unpack so, let's let's start with the first quarter and how it kind of played out over the over a several month period. So I'm actually gonna harking back to November when we're sitting here in November of 2021, we actually were very close to being profitable in the first quarter of 2022.
That was prior to the omicron barrier once the omicron Varian hit there was a significant displacement of guests in the first quarter and the second quarter.
Towards the end of 2022, but really in the early part of 2023, so once that happens.
You normally would see some additional revenue coming into the quarter for the first quarter that obviously did not happen and we were stepping backwards.
The second thing that happened in the quarter that was unexpected was the Russia, Ukraine conflict when the Russia, Ukraine conflict kicked in fuel prices, obviously, spiked, which had an implication for us on the cost side of the business that we weren't anticipating Ah that obviously it took our expectations for Q1 down because of that change.
The last thing and I touched upon this in my remarks was debenture was operating in Baja California, and there were three voyages that unfortunately needed to be canceled because of some permit approvals that took a little while to get going.
We were able to secure those for the end of the season, but there were three voyages that had to be cancelled so like the cadence. Unfortunately for the first quarter.
Went backwards for most of the quarter because of those items. However, the booking trends in the quarter, where the exact opposite the booking trends for the full year 2022 went into 2023 actually reverse course really after the I would say second week of January where we started to see really nice increases pretty steadily throughout the quarter.
And if that has continued throughout what I would say it is April .
The other side of your question related to free cash flow.
For us it really is a byproduct Steve of the deposits and final payments that we're getting for future travel.
There has been several months.
Throughout 2021, as well as several months frankly within the first quarter, where we were free cash flow positive because of the amount of payments that came in the door was so positive for us and we are generating purely at the operational level at the ship level positive free cash flow.
You layer in the additional marketing and the overhead of the company that wasn't the case, but purely ship level. We were already there. So we would expect that to continue to ramp the second quarter is traditionally a little slower quarter for us in general and we have some of these overlying concerns that are going to kind of bleed into the second quarter, but certainly once we get to the third quarter, we expect to get back to what I would say.
Not quite normal levels, yet, but certainly really strong positive EBITDA as well as some strong free cash flow.
That's great color Craig appreciate it.
So so the one part of that question I'll take the answer I'm not sure you are going to answer it but you know from from an EBITDA perspective did April look better than than March.
Yeah, I'm not going to get specific with regards to with regards to a month and so much of that steep for us depends on where the ships are operating in all the in transit right. So a lot of our ships in March for example, ARD are traversing from what I would say is antartica up to their next destination. So theres a little bit of a challenge when it comes to that in terms of just transit cost and then <unk>.
In April for example, the Orion was transiting down to French Polynesia, So there's nuances to it in terms of operational months.
The comparisons a little bit difficult, but certainly the business is improving as we move forward. Okay. And then second question various kind of questions, but the second question would be are you talking about the cadence of bookings that you know that has sequentially improved on a weekly basis. All the way through April I think you mentioned and I just want to understand if there had been any material or.
Changes in booking patterns, meaning you know our folks booking heavily or more heavy in certain jurisdictions or the booking patterns pretty similar to where they were.
Five months ago or six months ago.
Yeah, I would say they changed a little bit and what I mean by changed its almost reverted back to historical levels. If you recall on the last quarter call. What I said is what we're seeing a little bit at that time was you were seeing more bookings for the short term and the long term, which kept the average kind of booking window at around at nine.
Month level now, we've kind of seen a little bit less of that lately and it's more traditional levels in terms of what youre seeing in terms of that nine month window, just being kind of the average. We're also seeing what I would say is traditional levels of repeat versus new guess the repeat guests that are coming in are somewhere in the high 37, 38% range, which is in line with.
What we've seen historically, so booking patterns are returning to more normalized levels. There. There's obviously nuances when you have a cancellation.
Just like we saw with Russia.
For the third and second quarters, but for the most part the bookings are back to where we would have seen them say pre pandemic levels.
Okay, great. Thanks, guys appreciate it.
Thank you. The next question will come from Tyler Tyler Batori with Oppenheimer. Please go ahead.
Hey, Good morning, guys. This is Jonathan on for Tyler. Thanks for taking our questions I wanted to follow up on that booking pattern discussion, maybe asking it a different way I'm wondering if there if you'd seen any kind of sentiment shifts in recent weeks in terms of guests who are maybe.
On bookings coming back into the inbound pool or demand spikes for different itineraries I mean, any additional color on that front.
Yeah. Thanks for the question Jonathan.
As Craig referenced we're really seeing a return to the kind of patterns that we saw pre pandemic you may recall during the pandemic that that was a really strong push for the U S based itineraries specifically Alaska.
But we're seeing now a balance that's returning to kind of rest of the world.
In addition to what we anticipate will be a good Alaska season, I think that we.
We did see a little bit of an up shift or an uptick in booking patterns when the mask mandate.
Was was.
Was released I think that sort of sent a wave of optimism through through guests across our across our industry quite frankly, and so the guests still are sensitive to <unk>.
Medical advice.
But we have definitely seen a return to what we would consider more pre pandemic types of booking behaviors questions interest in various itineraries versus anytime.
Anytime previous to these last month or so.
Okay. Thank you.
And then you have.
Related to the desire to get out and explore from guests and I'm curious if you could provide some color on the early feedback and.
If you think there's been a kind of structural change in which an increased values put on the product offering our expedition travel in general.
Sure I mean, we.
Some of it is a little bit intangible which is just the.
What people are experiencing on the ships and how they're providing very strong guest feedback on our common cards.
And of course, our folks on the ships are themselves just excited to be back in the action. So I think the way that I I.
Feel that its going is that these trips represent almost a coming out party, where people who have been yearning to get out and explore.
And once they're on the ships and they are in the safe bubble that we're providing in terms of Covid protection.
They really have just a chance to to.
To feel I think quite a bit different than they might have have when in there.
Backing back where they live and so.
If there is a sentiment change we also see signs of that when we see what people are doing on our on the web and what they're clicking on what they're excited about how they're spending their time, they're looking at video of some of the recent voyages. So all the indications are that public sentiment to shift.
<unk>.
And we've seen really a change honestly in the last months.
More so than any time in the last 12.
Well, that's great and then one last one if I could you guys recently unveiled the islanders here and I'm wondering if there's any color you can provide on that process on how it went in.
If it changes your propensity or willingness I should say to do more of those deals in the future compared with new hardware builds.
Yeah I'll handle the second part of the question with regards to new hardware builds and off can handle the response to it so far so the first thing I would say is when it comes to.
Replacement hardware, there arent any plans to replace any other hardware moving forward the island or two was an opportunity that we saw during the pandemic to acquire a vessel at an attractive price we knew at some point the Islander, one would have to be replaced and this was a way to do so relatively economically and also provide a ship that would.
Ed or enhance wherever the island or one which would allow us to generate more revenue from the island or two moving forward with regards to new builds we've been pretty I would say consistent in our approach to new builds which is we believe that the expedition travel space is only going to continue to grow the demand for the kind of.
<unk> that we provide.
Has the only ratcheted up.
Prior to the pandemic and it is exacerbated itself from there because people want to go out and see what the world has to offer.
We do continue to evaluate opportunities to add to our fleet, whether it be through newbuild process or whether it be through acquisitions.
And we balanced that with all the other opportunities that we have for growth moving forward. So nothing obviously new to announce today, but we will continue to explore new growth opportunities at every angle.
And with regard to the island to two specifically.
This was a shift that we had been looking along time to find and it's the same.
Number of guests that the island or the original Islander had so you maintain that small ship advantage in terms of its agility ability to go places and.
Find coves, where theres fantastic snorkeling, and where possible access to to the islands and so the expedition capability is just as good as what we've had in the past which is fundamental to the guest experience, but the real upgrade is the quality of the cabins.
In accommodations and the fact that it's an all suite ship.
Ship, we do enjoy a reasonably good family.
Business down in the Galapagos and we saw the need for a <unk> of.
Kevin configurations that allowed for more people inside the cabin and so we think this is going to be a really nice complement to the endeavor too.
Which has been a stronghold for us down there for many years.
Very helpful. Thank you for all the color guys. That's all for me.
Thanks, John .
The next question will come from Ryan Sundby with William Blair. Please go ahead.
Hey, good morning, guys. Thanks for taking the question.
Just I guess the.
To follow up on the last one there it sounds like the polar classify excuse me.
Great expectations, and maybe open up options that you hadn't considered or fully appreciate yet.
I know word of mouth and repeat visitation and our big roles in driving bookings for you guys. So could you maybe just talk a little bit more about in the past when we've introduced something big like this what kind of tailwind you've seen over a multiyear period as such.
Got to get the strength that and share it with others.
I think that what I should do is.
Give you the perspective of spend Lindblad, our founder who has obviously been part of every shift.
That has come into the fleet over the course of the last 40 plus years. So.
So spend will say that this is the most remarkable change in ship capability and technology that he has ever experienced and the reason for that is that it's the combination of the marine capability.
And also the quality of the hotel and food and beverage in the accommodations specifically related to the marine capability. It's just the way that it can.
Cut through the waters and the Drake passage, but then also because of the.
Polar ice class five capabilities, we've been able to go further south than we've ever been able to go before and well see.
And I mentioned, a couple of things in my comments about things that are relative firsts for us.
What that means is that the guests are coming back with the sense of having been explorers and theyre coming back and what is reflected on their social media and.
What we hear from them is they feel like they are doing things that other people haven't done and they can talk about them in ways that really capture the whole spirit of being an explorer and because of of what we do with a combination of national geographic and our expedition staff were able to really educate people about why.
Milestones are significant certain areas. We visit are particularly pristine certain wildlife that theyre seeing are things that others may be havent havent seen in such a way.
So I think it's really a whole comprehensive view of what a great expedition.
He adds up to and these ships deliver on so many fronts. So I know that's sort of a broad answer, but Craig maybe you'd like to add to that yes sure. Ryan. So yes, we look back to the history of the company when we launch a new ship. It traditionally generates a fair amount of Buzz and you get a fair amount of excitement and then obviously when you deliver on the promise of what that is.
Chip has to offer a word of mouth spreads not only through guests, but also through the travel agent community. So a little bit interesting. This time out because we launched two new ships during the pandemic and as you might imagine.
There is excitement.
Just getting back out to these places alone and the experiences that people can have returning to these amazing locations, but when you layer on top of that the guest feedback that we're getting from these shifts.
It should only build on the momentum and the success that <unk> had thus far and that's the anticipation as we move forward look out towards the the.
Antartica season for the end of 2022 into 2023, we're really significantly sold already now part of that is certainly the byproduct of people postponing trips from the end of 2021 in early 2022, but part of that is also though the.
What I would say word of mouth, that's going on right now with regards to these two new ships, Brian I, probably should've mentioned two it certainly helps that good morning America was on the endurance in her inaugural season in Antarctica, and so that reached millions of folks who I think are sort.
Coffee the thrill of the idea of being down there.
No.
Great to hear and it sounds like repeat visitation could maybe even with higher.
Maybe just to flip over if you look at the eight voyages that were touching Russia I guess.
I think youll be able to offset some but maybe not all that impact with revised itinerary sure sure would help us understand how big of an impact that would have on the top and bottom line. This year and then just I guess more broadly have you seen any signs yet that the conflict, maybe starting over and having an impact on other itineraries in Europe or the Arctic.
Sure. So we're not going to comment specifically on the impact of those voyages because we don't speak to individual voyages, but what I can say is we had over 500 guests booked across these eight voyages.
And while we were able to re book for this year, probably close to half of them are already there's a fair amount of folks that have either pushed to next year are still taking that wait and see approach. So there is a significant what I would say revenue impact associated with.
Changing these voyages around or.
Certainly rescheduling them in <unk>.
Right I forgot the second part of your question because were there other geographies that are being impacted I can comment a few library, yes, we were certainly keeping track of that Ryan.
Italy, There was I think some concern on the part of guests who were going to be traveling in the Baltic just based on proximity to the conflict and we did see people redirect a little further further east and we saw a bit of a surge as it related to Alaska at that time, but that seems to have now stabilized.
And.
We continue to monitor the situation.
Closely obviously.
We really haven't seen a change in pattern of our sentiment in the last couple of weeks.
It has been interesting Ryan is that when you looked at the booking patterns just globally people are booking any kind of a trip there was effectively a one week slowdown when conflict began we saw what we did see hesitation for that one week when bookings really slowed but the week. Following it immediately picked back up and it's been very consistent.
<unk> been more positive since that point, so it looks like the.
Desire to travel is only increasing as we've seen.
That's great to hear thanks, guys.
Thank you.
This concludes.
This concludes our question and answer session I would like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Craig Feldman steam for any closing remarks. Please go ahead.
Thanks, Chuck and thank you everybody for joining us today. We appreciate your time as always if you have additional follow up questions, we'd be happy to answer so please reach out and let US know thanks again, thanks, everyone.
The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation you may now disconnect.
Okay.
[music].
Yes.
[music].
Okay.