Lindblad Expeditions Holdings Inc.

number one on your telephone keypad. If you'd like to withdraw your question, press star one again. Thank you. I would now like to turn the call over to Dyson Dryden, CFO. You may begin.

Thank you, Mandeep. Appreciate it. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for the Limblad's 2024 Third Quarter Earnings Call. With me on the call today is Sven Limblad, our founder and CEO. Then we'll begin with some opening comments, and I'll follow with some details on the financial results and 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. 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 any such forward-looking statements. If you'd like more information on the risks involved in forward-looking statements, please see our SEC filings. In addition, our comments may reference non-GAAP financial measures. 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 please turn the call over to Sven.

Thank you, Dyson, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate your joining us today on Election Day. Our record third quarter results set the stage for another year of double digit growth in 2024. Dyson will provide additional color on our financial 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 that momentum in the years ahead. Let's start with the Lindblad business segment. I'm excited to report the bookings to date for future travel in our Lindblad segment increased 26% versus the same period in 2023. During the quarter, all of our 2026 inventory was released for sale, and we also are selling inventory for our own fleet through Q1 of 2027. The key metric, occupancy, is on a positive trajectory, particularly when paired with yield. Available guest nights increased by 7%, and occupancy rose from 81% to 82%, while maintaining price integrity with an increase of 9% in net yield per available guest night compared to 2023. We continue to see significant discounting from competitors. However, we are able to manage through the noise in the market this quarter. Interestingly, the fervor for building new expedition ships seems to have abated. We remain focused as an organization on returning as quickly as possible to our historic occupancies, and based on our current booking trends, we feel confident we are on a path to do exactly that. At the same time, we have stayed committed to price integrity, which is fundamental to our business model. 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 will result in us achieving this goal for the full year in 2026. A key focus for our team is our agreement with National Geographic and Disney to build and significantly grow the company through at least 2040. This long-term agreement is not yet a year old and we are in the beginning stages of capitalizing on its full potential. As a reminder, 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. I'm pleased to report that we have made real progress on each of these focus areas since our last earnings call. In September, we debuted our first, our refreshed co-branded identity, National Geographic Lindblad Expeditions, With the launch of our new co-branded identity, we made the strategic decision to lead with the power and name recognition of National Geographic, bolstered by Linbud Expedition's rich heritage as the pioneers of modern expedition cruising. The power of this new co-brand and improved name recognition will be vitally important as we expand our footprint in key growth markets around the world. We believe that this updated co-brand will drive consumer intent search efficiency, and conversation, bringing more discerning travelers on board our growing fleet. The new National Geographic Lindblad Expeditions co-branded identity and logo will be fully implemented across all owned marketing channels by the end of the year. In early 2025, the co-brand will debut a sweeping omnichannel consumer and trade marketing campaign, the largest in our history. powered in part by the reach of the Walt Disney Company. As part of this effort, Disney led the ideation, production, direction, and funded a major commercial shoot in the Galapagos, which we featured in a new multimillion-dollar ad campaign being launched by Disney in the new year. Finally, the implementation of new branding across Leadbed Expedition's growing fleet of 20 owned, leased, and chartered vessels has begun and will continue through 2025. We also announced the inclusion of our trips in the Disney Travel Advisor loyalty program called Earmarked. Coincidentally, with the launch, Disney invited me to keynote the Disney Destinations Earmarked program owners annual summit in October. I had the incredible opportunity to interact with hundreds of owners of travel agencies in the Earmarked program and we are already seeing interest in bookings from some of these agencies. From now on, the benefits agents receive for booking Disney products will be offered when booking ours as well. As we approach 2025, we have plans to ramp up marketing to Disney affinity audience, including Disney Visa card holders, D23, Club 33, Disney Cruise Lines, Disney Vacation Club, and Disney Cashmere. Now that we're able to market and sell with the MG brand internationally, we've been ramping up our international sales effort with our launch in Great Britain in Q3, and we are developing additional sales relationships in several other countries in Europe and Asia. We expect to see several million dollars of sales to customers in Great Britain and Europe this year, with those numbers increasing significantly in 2025 and beyond. We are also working very closely with the National Geographic Society to enhance the connection of travelers to the society itself. A couple of very specific examples of where we see growth opportunities taking full advantage of the branding power. First is the acceleration of family program. After all, that's Disney's sweet spot, and we collectively intend to take full advantage. Next, we also continue to look 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. So we believe that through committed and varied testing and campaigns, we will be able to generate meaningful growth as a consequence of our alliance beginning next year. A few words about product and inventory. We recognized last year that we needed to rebalance our inventory in order to have more sailings that would attract new first-time travelers. This is the first quarter where this rebalancing has really taken effect, with particular focus on having increased and changed our approach to Iceland, which is a popular destination for us to attract first-time travelers. We formally announced our two-ship expansion in the Galapagos for 2024, and the response has exceeded our expectations. The variety of both platforms with four ships and itineraries of four, five, and seven nights in the islands, combined with a variety of add-ons in Ecuador and Peru, create the most diverse offerings of any company in the region. Sailings will begin in mid-February for the 16-guest National Geographic Galfina and mid-March for the National Geographic Gemini. Later this month, I'm joining our team to convene a select group of journalists and influencers to go to Antarctica on the inaugural of our new Antarctic programs that offer either one-way flights or both ways from Chile to King George Island in Antarctica, allowing people with less time to fully enjoy Antarctica, eliminating either one or both crossings of the Drake Passage. These itineraries have been well-received, and for the next season, we are adding a second ship dedicated to these itineraries. Now let's turn to an update on our land experiences segment, which continues to thrive and grow. Revenue last quarter was $84.7 million, a 26% increase year over year. I'm excited to report that bookings today for future travel in our land experiences segment increased 20% versus the same period in 2023. The strategy of acquiring best-in-class land-based expedition travel companies that are mission-aligned, extremely well-run, and that can benefit from becoming part of our organization has proven to be of great significance for value creation. At the end of July, we completed the acquisition of our fifth land company, Thompson Safaris, has been focused on the spectacular country of Tanzania for over 40 years and their operation will create synergies with Natural Habitat's East African operation. Integration with Natural Habitat is progressing smoothly, and we are investing in sales and marketing resources to continue to grow the Thompson brand. Each of our land companies is pursuing their stated mission with vigor and aim to be a dominant force in their focus segments. We are thoroughly committed to continuing this strategy of finding compatible companies and expand both diversity and scale in the land segment and fully take advantage of the fact that our travelers are omnivorous in their interest and keeping that interest in the family, so to speak, is a sound and a creative approach. In summation, a very good quarter and one which has seen record growth in future bookings, tangible progress for our new brand, and building out the collective power of National Geographic, Disney, and Lindblad. Dyson will now delve deeply into the numbers.