Royal Caribbean Group’s top executive said cruise booking is on the rise after the blow from the Omicron variant pushed back the company’s expected escape from red ink.

Jason Liberty, chief executive at the world’s second-largest cruise ship group, said the New York-listed company has seen a “meaningful” increase in bookings since the beginning of the year.

He said the impact of the variant of Covid-19 is not over, but cases on board its ships have been declining and have now reached the very low levels seen before Omicron emerged.