Lindblad Expeditions - Q2 2024
August 8, 2024
Transcript
Operator (participant)
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. My name is Desiree, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Lindblad Expeditions Holdings, Inc. Reports 2024 Q2 Financial Results. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After his remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, again, press the star one. I would now like to turn the conference over to Dyson Dryden, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.
Dyson Dryden (CFO)
Thank you, Desiree. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for Lindblad's 2024 second-quarter earnings call. With me on the call today is Sven Lindblad, Founder and CEO. Sven will begin with some opening comments, and then I will follow with some details on the financial results and our current 2024 expectations before we open the call for Q&A. You can find our latest earnings release in the investor relations section of our website. But 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 obligation to update such forward-looking statements.
Alex Fuhrman (Analyst)
If you'd 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. With that out of the way, let me please turn the call over to Sven. Sven?
Sven Lindblad (CEO)
Thanks, Dyson, and thank you for stepping in and doing such a spectacular job as interim CFO while we consider our CFO search. Good morning, everyone, and thank you all for joining us today. Lindblad's strong Q2 results set the stage for another year of double-digit growth and record results for 2024. Dyson will provide additional color on our performance this past quarter, but before he does, let me take a few minutes to discuss some of the drivers of the continued growth this year, as well as the steps we are taking to sustain the momentum in the years ahead. First, I would like to emphasize how delighted we are with two new additions to our board of directors. Annette Reavis currently serves as Chief People Officer at CrossFit.
Alex Fuhrman (Analyst)
Throughout her career, she has served as a strategic partner for people in business operations and organizational design. Perhaps her most defining role was a decade at Meta, where she served as VP of Human Resources, playing an integral role in the company's growth from 1,400 to over 40,000 employees. Andy Stuart is a celebrated cruise industry titan. He served as President and Chief Executive Officer and held several other executive-level positions over his 31-year tenure at Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings. These two additions to our board add a significant diversity of key experiences, which will help tremendously in navigating the company's future. I would like to thank Bernie Aronson for his significant wisdom and insight during his tenure on our board. Now, turning to our quarterly results.
Bookings to date for future travel were up 17% versus the same period in 2023, and our in-year bookings expanded to 6% over the same point in 2023. It's important to note that 2023 benefited significantly from carryover business from prior cancellations during the pandemic. If you remove those from the equation, in-year bookings would be up 29% in 2024, and cancellation rates have stabilized to historic levels. Q2 occupancy increased from 74% in 2023 to 78%. Each percentage point increase on an annual basis, depending on itinerary sold, adds between $4 billion and $5 billion in additional EBITDA. So clearly, as I've consistently said, the single biggest opportunity is to return as quickly as possible to our historic occupancies.
At the same time, we have stayed committed to price integrity, which is fundamental to our business model. Many of our competitors continue to compete on price in pursuit of occupancy gains. This, without doubt, is a flawed, unsustainable strategy. To reliably return to the occupancy levels we historically have enjoyed, we are building back our past guest base. This customer cohort is the backbone for a segment of our itineraries, those that are longer and more esoteric. We believe this strategy, barring external influences, will result in us achieving this goal for the full year in 2026. Speaking of external influences, they have had an impact in 2024 and will likely continue to impact future years.
The ongoing Middle East conflict has had a significant effect on our Egypt program, and we also canceled two long Mediterranean voyages, as one of our ships had to be rerouted at short notice from transiting the Red Sea. Certain of our Galapagos voyages were affected by concerns about stability in mainland Ecuador, but this has largely stabilized as people realized that issue - that the issue was very localized. Just as an aside, I just spent 10 days in Ecuador, in part meeting with the government, including with President Noboa. I was very impressed with his vision for the country and his commitment to the imperative of security.... Recently, a reality is that since I started this business, there have always been periodic disruptions due to world events, some more dramatic than others. Our business model, within reason, takes this into consideration.
One of the most significant developments for the company is our agreement with National Geographic and Disney to build and significantly grow the company through at least 2040. To be clear, this agreement was only realized in November last year, so we are still in the early stages. There are a number of initiatives I cannot speak to here at this time due to competitive reasons. However, there are several that I can. First of all, the rallying cry within the three organizations that have chosen to deeply collaborate, Lindblad, National Geographic, and Disney, is the power of three. On the surface, the key ingredients each brings is Lindblad expedition execution, National Geographic brand strength, and Disney distribution. Aside from these critical components, there is a lot more. Let's focus on primary benefits.
We have spent dozens of hours together unearthing how and where we expand our reach with the goal of attracting new travelers. We have determined together to update our consumer brand, and this will be launched by the end of September. The updated brand, National Geographic Lindblad Expeditions, leads with the power and name recognition of National Geographic. Our research and experimentation has demonstrated the power of this new brand, increasing consumer intent, search efficiency, and conversion. This is especially important as we begin to market internationally, where the National Geographic brand has far more awareness today than the name Lindblad. We have begun to leverage Disney's ad buying power with our joint marketing fund and have just committed to a new domestic marketing campaign to support the launch of our new program.
Featuring radio, connected TV, digital, and print advertising, this campaign will reach our target households across the country. We are also working together to create a full suite of new co-branded advertising assets to appeal to a diverse audience of potential guests. Our first cross-selling campaigns to Disney Affinity audiences will launch this year, reaching millions of consumers with strong Disney affinity and a love of travel. With our new ability to market together with the NG brand internationally, we are launching sales in Great Britain this quarter and plan further expansions into Europe later this year. We are also looking at a variety of new charter products that we believe will be uniquely successful under the new co-brand, including possible expansion of river cruising.
We believe that through committed and various testing and campaigns, we will be able to generate meaningful growth as a consequence of our lines beginning next year. A few words on inventory and its importance. First, we are working on new thematic content creation, which we hope to articulate soon, harnessing the creative forces within both National Geographic and Disney. A good example of this is our renewed focus on family travel. For those familiar with our current products, you know we have different ships designed for very different missions, operating in different geographies and attracting very different guests. Our voyages range from 4 days to 30 days in length. Certain itineraries are more suited to bring in new guests, Galapagos, Alaska, for example. Some particularly esoteric itineraries largely attract past guests.
Examples include places like Papua New Guinea and the Northwest Passage, and somewhere there is a balance, Antarctica and Iceland, for example. We have always worked on calibrating inventory to have the right balance. For many years, we achieved this optimal balance, hence our 90% + or minus occupancies. With COVID, we basically lost two years of adding to the funnel, basically 30,000+ guests. Inventory is planned several years out, so our beautiful, essentially perfect formula was disrupted for a time. We have responded by increasing first-timer itineraries and culling those for past guests. Examples are increasing our presence in Iceland and reducing more of our esoteric Arctic itinerary. Another is our fly-in program to Antarctica, making it possible to have a shorter experience by flying from Chile to Antarctica to board our ships, which has opened up an entirely new market.
We have also just signed an agreement to acquire 2 additional ships for Galapagos, critical for bringing in new guests, the National Geographic Gemini and the National Geographic Delfina, with 48 and 16 passengers respectively. Galapagos is a closed market for ships with a defined number of licenses, so the overall market has not increased, but our inventory has by 45%. These 2 additional ships are expected to begin operation late Q1 next year, and the effects on accelerating first-time travelers by upwards of 3,000 people a year will be felt across the fleet over time. A few operational highlights. Our first 10 governing principles is to ensure that everything we do adds value to the guest experience. This is sacrosanct, and I'm very happy to be able to report that the guest satisfaction this quarter was the highest level since before the pandemic.
Our new IT systems, while still being improved, have begun to streamline our internal processes and improve the guest experience. We believe there is more we can do on this front. For some months now, we have made a concerted effort to further improve efficiency, looking at the organizational structure broadly and how we can modernize, improve, and eliminate unnecessary costs. Our Land Experiences sector continues to perform and grow at exceptional levels. Revenue last quarter was $33.4 million, a 16% increase year-over-year. Natural Habitat, the largest of our land subsidiaries, has current bookings over 20% greater than at the same period in 2023. The theory from the beginning, that our kind of travelers are omnivorous in their interest and engage in a diverse set of experiences, has absolutely proven to be true.
The more people that travel with our land companies, the better, as they provide best-in-class experiences and travelers stay in the family, so to speak. Think of what this diversity represents. Natural Habitat Adventures focused on land-based itineraries in natural, remote places. Examples include viewing polar bears in the high Arctic or safaris in Africa. Ben Breslauer is the founder and CEO, and he also oversees all of our land companies. Nat Hab's mission is entirely consistent with our own: conservation through exploration, protecting our planet by inspiring travelers, supporting local communities, and boldly influencing the entire travel industry. Classic Journeys focus on cultural walking tours all over the world. Think Italy, Spain, South America, and beyond. Its founders and leaders, Edward and Susan Piegza, are really driving and expanding this business. And talk about minimal capital.
It's largely two feet at a time. DuVine offers luxury bike tours that offer immersive experiences in some of the world's most scenic and culturally rich destinations. It's an exciting company, really capitalizing on the growing interest in fitness and cycling. Add to that the advent of e-bikes, which massively grows the category, and voila, you have quite a growth story, which in DuVine's case, is largely fed by love of Italy and France. Founder and CEO Andy Levine turned a personal interest, biking, culture, and wine, into a perfect enterprise, and we are thrilled to support his team and their growth. Off the Beaten Path is in the process of extending its strong presence in North American national parks to other lesser-traveled destinations globally. With third-party development of new and exciting hotels, lodges, and the expansion of glamorous camping, OBP is in the right market.
CEO Corey Lawrence is ideally suited to lead this growth platform for us. And just last week, we closed the acquisition of our fifth land company, Thomson Safaris, which has been focusing on the spectacular country of Tanzania for over 40 years, and their operation will create synergies with Natural Habitat's East African operation. The level of focus and expertise in one of Africa's most desirable countries for safari travel is unmatched, and included in the transaction is a spectacular lodge called Gibbs Farm, named East Africa's best hotel by Condé Nast in 2023. Gibbs is a place with deep history. It actually was my favorite lodge back in the 1970s when I was living in East Africa, and it's consistently rated as one of Africa's top lodges today.
Each of our land companies is pursuing their stated mission with vigor and aims to be a dominant force in their focus segments. We're excited to continue to expand by adding additional best-in-class companies to this valuable portfolio. Companies where we are mission-aligned and whereby joining our family, we can add value and propel meaningful growth. In summation, 2024 is shaping up nicely, and we remain optimistic about the future. Now, Dyson will delve deeply into the numbers.
Dyson Dryden (CFO)
Thank you, Sven. Lindblad's strong year-on-year growth continued during the Q2 as we further ramped up ship operations with broader deployment of our expanded fleet and continued to grow our diversified portfolio of land businesses. As we deliver sustained year-on-year growth, we are taking the operational and strategic steps necessary to take full advantage of the earnings potential of the company. The investments we've made in additional capacity, diverse product offerings, technological capabilities, and overall infrastructure have positioned us to capitalize on the growing demand for experiential travel. During the Q2, total revenue of $136.5 million increased $11.7 million, or 9%, versus the Q2 of 2023. Lindblad segment tour revenues were $93.1 million, which is an increase of $5.6 million, or 6%, compared to the Q2 a year ago.
Alex Fuhrman (Analyst)
The increase was driven by a 4% increase in available guest nights, a 6% increase in net yield per available guest night to $1,094, and an increase in occupancy to 78%, up from 74%. As Sven noted, we canceled 2 voyages as we decided to transit around the Red Sea due to conflict in the region, and our Egypt program was affected by the Middle East conflict. We also saw instability in mainland Ecuador, which impacted Galapagos for a brief period of time.
Experiences tour revenues were $43.4 million, which is an increase of $6.1 million, or 16%, compared to the Q2 a year ago, led by additional guests and higher pricing across Natural Habitat's trips to Africa, the Galapagos Islands, Europe, the Amazon, India, and Alaska, DuVine cycling tours across Italy, France, Croatia, Turkey, and Spain, Classic Journeys cultural walking tours in places like Portugal and Iceland, and Off the Beaten Path's small, guided group adventures to the US national parks. Q2 adjusted EBITDA was $10.4 million, an increase of $4.2 million year-over-year, driven by a $3.9 million increase in the Lindblad segment and a $300,000 increase in the Land Experiences segment.
Lindblad segment adjusted EBITDA of $6.5 million, increased $3.9 million as compared to the same period in 2023, primarily due to increased tour revenues, partially offset by higher general administrative costs, which were related to increased personnel costs and increased royalties associated with the expanded National Geographic agreement. Land Experiences segment adjusted EBITDA of $3.8 million, increased $300,000, as I mentioned, as compared to the same period in 2023, as increased tour revenues were offset by increased operating and personnel costs, higher marketing spend to drive future growth, and credit card fees and commission expense.
Looking a little closer at the cost side of the business, operating expenses before depreciation and amortization, interest, taxes increased $7.5 million, or 6.4%, versus the Q2 of 2023, led by a $3.4 million, or 13.3% increase in GA expense, excluding stock-based comp and one-time items. Versus a year ago, primarily again, due to higher personnel costs associated with the expanded operations, as well as from increased credit card commissions related to final payments for upcoming itineraries and higher deposits on new reservations for future travel. Sales and marketing costs increased $3.1 million, or 20.6% versus a year ago, primarily due to increased royalties associated with the expanded National Geographic agreement and additional marketing spend to drive future bookings.
Fuel costs were 4.2% of revenue in the Q2 of 2024, which is down compared with the Q2 a year ago. As a reminder, credit card commissions are paid upon cash receipt, with the expense recognized today and with trip revenue not recognized until the guest travels. With higher bookings in the Q2 versus the same period a year ago, the expense impact is significantly higher on year, with the revenue growth to be delivered in the periods ahead. While our expense base will grow in absolute terms, as we continue to expand the business, we also believe we have an opportunity to improve efficiency over time. Our recent investment in technology is an important enabler of this objective.
We are now well-positioned to identify ways to further improve existing processes and systems and thereby reduce certain costs. Turning to the balance sheet for a moment, total cash was $217.7 million as of June 30, 2024, as compared to $187.3 million as of December 31, 2023. The increase primarily reflects a $63.2 million increase in cash from operations due primarily to increased bookings for future travel, which is partially offset by the $17.3 million cash used in the acquisition of additional ownership of Natural Habitat and DuVine, as well as the $3.9 million used for purchasing property and equipment over the first half of the year. Lindblad now owns 90% of Natural Habitat and 75% of DuVine Cycling.
Both businesses continue to outperform our original expectations. On July 31, 2024, we completed the acquisition of Wineland-Thomson Adventures, an adventure travel group that primarily operates African safaris. The acquisition purchase price was $30 million, which is financed through $24 million of cash and $6 million in Lindblad stock. We plan to close our previously announced purchase of the two purpose-built Galapagos expedition vessels in January 2025. Importantly, we've already begun adding bookings for the National Geographic Gemini and the National Geographic Delfina ships to effectively use the time period between signing and closing. On closing, the ships will undergo revitalizations, after which they will begin operations late in the Q1 of 2025.
We continue to explore additional growth opportunities in the year ahead, and including diversifying our own product portfolio or opportunistically expanding our fleet to capitalize on the continued growth and the demand for experiential travel. Turning to the full year 2024, we continue to anticipate significant growth, driven by higher guest counts and increased net yields across the fleet, as well as additional travelers across our growing land businesses. Given the strong booking trends, we continue to expect tour revenue in 2024 between $610 million and $630 million, and Adjusted EBITDA between $88 million and $98 million. The acquisition, Thompson Safaris, is expected to have a minimal contribution this year due to certain planned investments in the business. However, it is expected to be a more meaningful contributor for the full year 2025.
Please note that quarterly results for the remainder of each year will reflect the seasonality of our business, with the Q3 benefiting from more complete fleet usage and peak seasons across both our fleet and land businesses. Conversely, the Q4 will be impacted by less available guest nights due to the heavy dry dock and transit time across our fleet, more shoulder season inventory, and seasonality for our land businesses. Overall, we are pleased with the operating momentum across our businesses. Thank you for your interest, and now Sven and I would be happy to answer any questions that you may have.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. If you have dialed in and would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad to raise your hand and join the queue.... If you would like to withdraw your question, simply press star one again. If you are called upon to ask a question and are listening via speakerphone on your device, please pick up your handset to ensure that your phone is not on mute when asking your question. Again, press star one to join the queue. Your first question comes from the line of Steven Wieczynski with Stifel. Your line is open.
Steve Wieczynski (Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst)
Yeah, thanks, guys. Good morning. So, Dyson, this one's probably for you. Don't want to put you in the hot seat right away, but, you know, it's a guidance question, and you addressed a little bit of this in your prepared remarks, but I'm gonna ask it a little bit differently. So, you know, if we think about the first half of this year, you guys, you know, you generated about $32 million in EBITDA. You know, that is actually below the $35 million you generated in the first half of 2019.
Alex Fuhrman (Analyst)
My question is, you know, to get to the low end of your EBITDA guidance for the year, you know, you guys are gonna have to generate about 50, you know, mid-50s, $56 million in EBITDA in the second half of the year. That's, you know, that's well above what you did in the second half of 2019. Look, I fully understand there's a material change in capacity, but, you know, I guess, you know, the real question is: what gives you guys, you know, such confidence with only five months left in the year that, you know, kind of getting to that mid-50s EBITDA in the second half of the year is, you know, is going to be possible? Thanks.
Dyson Dryden (CFO)
Yeah, sure. Thanks, Steve. So let me just talk a little bit about, you know, our strong booking position. I think that's really gonna be the key variable in the back half of the year. The Lindblad segment is in a very strong booking segment for the year. So we've already booked 98% of the Lindblad segment full year projected ticket revenues for 2024. As you know, that last 2% does come at a very high margin. So filling the rest of the 2% is our focus. And, you know, if we do that, we should be able to get there, and where we wanna be on a, for the full year guidance perspective.
Alex Fuhrman (Analyst)
So we're confident at this point in time, based on the trends, and the cancellations really going back to historical levels, that we're in a good position to reach the guidance. I think also importantly, you know, the land business bookings are also very strong. The bookings, just in NatHab, which is our largest land segment, you know, are up 20% year-over-year. So, you know, we remain confident in achieving the guidance.
Steve Wieczynski (Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst)
Okay. Thanks for that, Dyson. And then second question, Sven, it's for you. It's a bigger picture question, you know, really around the Disney partnership. You know, as you continue to work and, you know, and collaborate with those guys, you know, look, a big piece of this partnership was always gonna be around the ability to, you know, to drive load factors higher over time. And just, you know, wanna ask how you feel, you know, about the partnership today, and if the ability to drive that long-term occupancy is still in play. And then maybe, you know, when will we start to see some of the material, you know, benefits of this partnership? Thanks.
Sven Lindblad (CEO)
Thanks, Steve. I appreciate the question. So, you know, like, with any new partnership, right, it's like you gotta kind of figure out how are you gonna play together? How are you gonna work together in the most productive way possible, right? So we've been working since 2004 with National Geographic, but National Geographic has morphed from being an independent organization to one owned by Fox, to then migrating over to Disney. And Disney is kind of a new player from the perspective of our relationship.
Alex Fuhrman (Analyst)
So the first thing we did was, this past April, we took a significant number of people from Disney, from National Geographic, and from our own organization, and we went to the Pacific and spent five days together, where we helped build understanding about what we do in those different segments, and had sort of working sessions every day for five days, really exploring how we were gonna build out this business together and how we were gonna use each other's assets in a combined way to build what we call the Power of Three. And so when you think about what we all are individually and how you bring that together into some sort of a chemical mix, it's. I believe it's an incredibly potent one.
So Nat Geo not only is brand, but also has tremendous content it can, it can help provide in terms of photography, explorers, family idea, education. Disney is a massive, massive distribution entity, right? And we wanna harness that, and they wanna harness it on behalf of our collective effort. And then, obviously, we're in the execution business of making sure these expeditions happen. So, I mean, there is nobody, in my view, in the travel industry, in the expedition space, that has so much power behind it as a consequence of these partnerships. And so... And everybody is really, really interacting in a very concerted way. There are constantly, discussions going on about the next step and the next step, and how can we advance the distribution. And so I think you're gonna see in 2025-...
A lot of this begin to come to real fruition. Remember, we only signed the deal in November, and then you have to plan, and then you have to, you know, and Disney is a big organization and doesn't necessarily, you know, it doesn't necessarily move as quickly as, as a smaller one like ourselves, but it is moving, and once it gets, gets up to full steam, I think it's going to—I think it cannot help but have a significant effect on how we grow the business.
Steve Wieczynski (Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst)
That's great color. Thanks, guys. Really appreciate it.
Dyson Dryden (CFO)
Thanks, Steve.
Operator (participant)
Our next question comes from the line of Eric Wold with B. Riley Securities. Your line is open.
Eric Wold (Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst)
Thank you. Good morning. A couple questions, I guess. First question, kind of a follow-up on the last one around, you know, the expanded Nat Geo-Disney relationship. Obviously, you said you made the comment about how the organizations like Disney, you know, maybe don't move as fast as you expected. You know, you went with a bunch of the teams in April. You're launching a new brand by September. I guess, if you take everything together, you know, is everything kind of expected when you first made the announcement back in November, kind of running on schedule, ahead of plan, behind plan versus where you were? And then, you know, can you make any maybe general comments about any bookings tailwind from the extended relationship in 2025, as you've kinda previously expected you'd see?
Sven Lindblad (CEO)
Yeah. So first of all, I just want to clarify one thing. I did not say they were moving slower than expected. I just meant that a big organization doesn't necessarily move as quickly as a smaller organization. I think they're moving faster than I would have expected, to be honest, given the fact that you know that it is such a large organization.
Alex Fuhrman (Analyst)
So one of the major things that's gonna happen this fall is a real sort of coming out party, if you will, with the trade, with their entire sales team, which is huge by comparison, maybe upwards of 10 times the size of our own or more, that exposes products, their products, and now our products as well to the travel trade. I mean, this is a massive, massive expansion of exposure, right, in a critical area of business development. So that and advertising plans and direct mail campaigns and search.
Now we're, you know, we used to, National Geographic and ourselves, we used to compete for search terms, for example, because we worked together, but we also had different entities because there was different attribution as to how the business was sourced. All of that is no longer there, so we are collaborating on literally everything to drive the business. And so, you know, I can't quantify it in absolute terms, but it's hard for me to imagine that it isn't going to be a very, very powerful force going forward. And we will, I think, start the, you know, starting the next earnings call and the one after that, I think we will be in the position to be more specific as a consequence of having more sort of water under the bridge.
Dyson Dryden (CFO)
I would just add that, you know, as you, as you well know, we have about a nine-month booking window on average. That's been pretty consistent. And so, you know, as all this activity is ramping up, as Sven mentioned, the results really come in 2025, in large part just due to the timing of the booking window. So the activity is beginning to happen in earnest, and we expect the results to really start showing in 2025.
Eric Wold (Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst)
Perfect. And the follow-up question: On the two vessels you acquired and or are acquiring in the Galapagos, you mentioned increasing your inventory in the region by 45%. Any more comments in terms of night additions you get from that potential annual revenue from the two ships? And then, you know, how does this, on a longer-term basis, how does this impact, you know, potential pricing in the region by taking out two competitive ships, and what is the opportunity to leverage that customer list to kind of bring them to other expeditions outside of the region?
Sven Lindblad (CEO)
Do you wanna answer this?
Dyson Dryden (CFO)
Sure, sure. So, you know, we're not in a position to update, you know, any guidance for 25 at this point. But we did announce that they're going to come in the service at the end of the Q1, and so when we put out guidance, we'll certainly show that contribution. We believe these are gonna be really important as far as adding, you know, first-time guest inventory, and we underwrote a very conservative occupancy level for 2025 with the transaction, which we believe is gonna be, you know, very accretive to shareholders financially and frankly, from a leverage perspective as well. So, you know, I think we'll just have to give you more guidance as we go forward, you know, on that.
Alex Fuhrman (Analyst)
But this is largely a first-time guest product, which is, you know, very much aligned with our mission to add new first-time guests to the funnel and improve the overall occupancy levels for the organization. The 45% increase is just the fact that the, you know, there's a fixed license business, which in the Galapagos, which I think most are aware of. And so that just means it's not like two new ships are coming into Galapagos. You know, we took two ships from a competitor of ours and brought them into our, our fleet. Is that helpful?
Eric Wold (Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst)
Yes. Thank you both.
Operator (participant)
Next question comes from the line of Alex Fuhrman with Craig-Hallum. Your line is open.
Alex Fuhrman (Analyst)
Hey, guys. Thanks very much for taking my question. It sounds like you guys are investing a lot more in the Galapagos now as a region with the new ships you have coming online. Can you talk about what your market share in that region is going to be, you know, when you have these new ships online, giving the sixth supply in the region? And then I think in the past, you've talked about the Galapagos being a good region for you in terms of acquiring first-time passengers. You know, is that the case? Do you expect to be able to acquire a lot of new customers as a result of your increased presence in that geography?
Sven Lindblad (CEO)
Yeah, well, so, you know, Galapagos is a place we've been involved with for a very, very long time. I mean, going back to my father's first bringing people there in 1967. And so it's a place that we're very closely connected with, and it's very, very important to us. And so the opportunity to expand in a place that we have such a deep connection with and that we're so... You know, that the public sort of equates us being connected with, it is, for us, a real, real opportunity. So now we will have a total of two hundred and six, I think it is, beds in the Galapagos.
Alex Fuhrman (Analyst)
which doesn't sound like a lot when you think of cruise ships, but there's only, in terms of boats that are like 40, 50 passengers or more, there are only about 600 beds total, I think, somewhere in that neighborhood, in the Galapagos, including our own. So we represent a very, very sizable percentage of the market. And as a consequence of that, you know, we can change our investment mentality in terms of promoting the area because obviously we have a level of scale that is proportionately different, which is very, very helpful.
Okay-
Sven Lindblad (CEO)
Yes, about new people. See, Galapagos is an iconic place, you know, for people who are interested in nature. Probably as an island group, more known than any other in the world, and more, you know, more aspirational than any other in the world, from the perspective of natural history. So, it absolutely is a place where you can get people in the door for the first time, probably more easily than any place else on Earth.
Alex Fuhrman (Analyst)
Great. That's, that's really helpful. Thanks very much.
Operator (participant)
Next question comes from the line of Chris Woronka with Deutsche Bank. Your line is open.
Chris Woronka (Managing Director and Senior Lodging and Leisure Analyst)
Hey, guys. Good morning. Thanks for all the details so far. Sven, I think you mentioned earlier that you might be looking to increase your activity in the river cruising space. And so, you know, the question is: You do have two new vessels coming for Galapagos. Would that require... If you decide to go down the river cruising path in a bigger way, would that require, you know, additional fleet, or can you make that happen with your current fleet?
Sven Lindblad (CEO)
Yeah. So anything that we envision doing on rivers. Well, we do a lot on rivers already, on the Columbia and Snake River, on the Amazon. So we are, you know, we're already deeply involved with rivers, and we know that people really like rivers, and in Egypt, obviously, as well. So we would envision, at least for the moment, to pursue rivers on a charter basis, not on a, you know, not on building for rivers or not taking our ships, you know, into rivers more than they currently do in the Columbia and Snake River. But so, you know, so we own now 12 ships, and we charter eight ships, and those eight charter ships are also important because they fill different niches.
Alex Fuhrman (Analyst)
Maybe certain places that are particularly seasonal, and we don't want to necessarily own something where you can only successfully operate it for three months a year and be stuck with it for the other nine. So charter is really, for us, a great mechanism to expand our offerings, and in certain instances, to test areas that, you know, after which we might decide we want to get more deeply involved. So we have, in the past, chartered ships to certain areas and then eventually bought a ship or built a ship to accommodate that interest. But right now it's gonna be primarily focused on charter work.
Chris Woronka (Managing Director and Senior Lodging and Leisure Analyst)
Okay-
Dyson Dryden (CFO)
And can I just add that I just want to add one thing, which is, you know, unlike the river product that Sven's mentioning, you know, the Galapagos is a 52-week operational deployment. So that's a place where, you know, owning a ship, you know, makes a lot of sense. And I did find a statistic in my notes here. There are only nine ships in the Galapagos with over 40 passengers in existence. So it is a, you know, pretty, you know, limited market.
Chris Woronka (Managing Director and Senior Lodging and Leisure Analyst)
Yeah. Yes, understood. Thanks. Thanks, Dyson. Appreciate that. And then, you know, obviously, there's a lot of moving parts here. You guys, if I look at relative to 2019 or 2018, whatever the right year is, you've taken on more land-based businesses. You're, you know, you're growing, you're growing the fleet now. You have the, the Nat Geo and Disney partnership, and we've had inflation, of course. So the question is: As we look out to maybe 2024 is not the right year, maybe it's 2025, 2026, the margin profile, the overall business, we just think about the EBITDA margin of, you know, 20% or so reached in 2019. Is that the, the... Is there a lot of upside in, in the out years, or is, is there, you know, are there structural limits? Just trying to get a sense of how to frame the, you know, the 2- to 3-year potential, right?
Dyson Dryden (CFO)
Yeah. Without giving, you know, specific guidance, you know, we did mention that we're focused on cost and efficiency as well. We think a combination of, you know, returning to historical occupancies and also, a focus on efficiency and cost, you know, there should be an opportunity there. And that work is ongoing right now. But certainly that, you know, Chris, to your point, that, that would be the goal. There should be significant operating leverage in the business. Some will depend on the ultimate mix of land versus marine, because they do carry different margin profiles. But, but yes, your focus is similar to ours.
Chris Woronka (Managing Director and Senior Lodging and Leisure Analyst)
Okay, great. Appreciate that. Thanks, guys.
Dyson Dryden (CFO)
Thank you.
Operator (participant)
There are no further questions at this time. Mr. Dryden, I turn the call back over to you.
Dyson Dryden (CFO)
Okay, great. Thank you, Desiree. Thank you for everyone for joining our Q2 earnings call. Hope everyone has a wonderful day, and if you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach for us directly.
Sven Lindblad (CEO)
Thank you.
Operator (participant)
Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.