Ambassadors Group Inc., the Spokane-based educational-travel program provider, reported this afternoon a fourth-quarter net loss of $10 million, or 58 cents per diluted share, compared with a loss of $7.8 million, or 45 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter.

For all of 2012, Ambassadors posted net income of $1.7 million, or 10 cents per share, compared with $3 million, or 17 cents a share, in 2011.

Ambassadors had an 11 percent decline in total delegates for 2012, to about 21,300 from about 23,900 in 2011. The company, however, was able to remain profitable by reducing operating expenses by $5.9 million.

In a press release, Ambassadors President and CEO Jeff Thomas said the company finished 2012 in line with its expectations.

Thomas said, "During the year, we focused our efforts on executing our strategic plan to continue to evolve our multichannel marketing approach to secure travelers, right size our cost structure, and return value to shareholders. We have made significant progress in all three of these areas."

He said Ambassadors is projecting that the number of delegates it serves will decrease again in 2013, but the company is working to adapt to maintain profitability as those numbers drop.