July 27 (SeeNews) - Croatian hotel operator Valamar Riviera [ZSE:RIVP-R-A] said its consolidated EBITDA jumped to 86.3 million kuna ($12.7 million/11.5 million euro) in the first half of 2016 from 30 million kuna a year earlier.
The company's total revenues increased 36.2% to 507.2 million kuna through June, while sales revenues rose 22.4% on the year to 419.6 million kuna, it said in a filing with the Zagreb bourse on Tuesday.
Valamar recorded a 13% growth in overnight stays to 1,434,810 in the review period, while accommodation units sold increased 12.6% to 783,650.
All Valamar destinations and products recorded higher accommodation and board revenues through June, led by Krk island with 254,941 overnights, up 72.4% year-on-year, and board revenues of 39.4 million kuna, up 92.3%.
Investments worth more than 260 million kuna were focused on further increasing the quality of Valamar Riviera’s portfolio of hotels, apartments, and campsites. The Krk campsite has been transformed into a five-star site with investments of up to 34 million kuna.
For the remainder of the year, the company hopes to acquire a 50.08% stake in hotel operator Imperial having lodged a bid with Croatia's state-run center for enterprise restructuring and privatization, CERP. In 2017, the company plans investments of over 750 million kuna, of which more than 50% is earmarked for raising the quality of tourism products and services at the Rabac destination.
The Valamar group runs hotels, apartment villages and campsites in Istria and in Dubrovnik and on the islands of Krk and Pag.
Tourism is a key industry for Croatia, generating around a fifth of the country's gross domestic product.
(1 euro=7.48363 kuna)