The Tatra folks are evaluating the winter season

The Tatra folks are evaluating the winter season
The Tatra folks are evaluating the winter season
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TMR released key season-to-date metrics for the winter season 2013/14 – for the period from the beginning of the winter season in November 2013 till the end of March 2014 – in comparison with the same period of prior year. The comparison includes the hotels of TMR’s portfolio and mountain resorts – Jasná Nízke Tatry, Vysoké Tatry – Tatranská Lomnica, Starý Smokovec, and Štrbské Pleso, and Aquapark Tatralandia. The evaluation does not include the resort Špindlerův Mlýn in the Czech Republic and the recently acquired resort Szczyrkowski ošrodek narciarski in Poland.

Highlights:

• Total sales for the winter season improved year-over-year by 3.6%
• The number of skier days in Mountain Resorts, which measure visit rate, decreased for the comparable period by 4.7%
• In Aquapark Tatralandia the number of visitors for the given period increased year-over-year by 4.1%
• Hotels’ occupancy improved in weighted average by 3.8 percentage points and average daily rate jumped up by 13.8%
• Ski pass sales for the given period slightly fell by 2%
• Sales from Aquapark were up +10.2%
• Hotels’ sales increased year-over-year by 15.8%
• Sales from Dining were up +3.7% and from Sports Services & Stores +1.6%

CEO TMR, Bohuš Hlavatý, commented on the season: “We had to face an extremely mild and dry winter, a fact that also impacted our visitors and consequently our revenues in Mountain Resorts, as well.  Moreover, the compared period does not include Easter holidays as it did last year. Despite some decreases, these are good results, since, thanks to our unbeatable technical readiness achieved with massive investments into snowmaking and trail grooming, we were able to offer our clients a skiing experience that lasted longer and was of higher quality than any other resort in Slovakia. We made up for the decrease in skier days with Aquapark Tatralandia, which was ground-breaking with its Tropical Paradise in provision of services, and in combination with weather it brought solid results. The trend of client demand for ancillary services continued and was evidenced in this subsegment’s sales growth. We achieved a positive development in our Hotels’ segment mainly thanks to our foreign visitors, especially from Poland and Ukraine, as a result of our quality and long-term sales and marketing activities on these markets. Hotels’ results showed that our sales work and our long-term focus on service quality and on investments into hotels’ enhancement are bringing harvest.”

The season was launched in the mountain resorts on 29 November 2013. With gradual resort openings one could ski on 46 km of ski trails in Jasná and on 24km in Vysoké Tatry. According to statistical data, during the 2013/14 winter season the resorts in the High and Low Tatras were open for skiing for 123 days (from 29/11/2013 to 31/3/2014), out of which the location of  Štrbské Pleso was closed for 1 day and Tatranská Lomnica for 13 days due to a strong gusty wind. Lomnické sedlo was opened non-traditionally for walking visitors on 7/1/2014. Skiers could enjoy the trail with highest elevation, French mulda, from 21/3/2014, two months later than last year. 56% visitors to Vysoké Tatry were Slovak, 20% Polish, 10% Czech, 5% were Russians, and 4% Ukrainians. Jasná was visited by 32% of Polish visitors, 30% Slovaks, 9% Czechs, 6% from Ukraine, and 6% from Russia. The winter came with several additions: the iconic Rotunda, new cableways, parking lot, trails, luxurious chalets, and new gateways. The season’s hot topic was shopping for ski passes and other TMR products online through Gopass.sk. “The new client program Gopass completed its first and successful season. Almost 100 thousand visitors activated their client cards and started redeeming their rewards and benefits of the Gopass membership,” Michal Beňo, Gopass’ CRM director, stated. 

Even though the winter season has already ended in most Slovak resorts due to warm spring weather, TMR’s resorts are still in operation, and skiing possibilities are expected to last well through Easter.

TMR will release its next financial results for the first half of financial year on 30.6.2014. You can sign up for automatic email alerts from TMR here.

Tatry mountain resorts, a.s. (TMR) is the leader in tourism in the Central and Eastern Europe; it owns and operates attractive mountain resorts and hotels. In the Low Tatras TMR owns and operates the resort Jasná Nízke Tatry and hotels Wellness hotel Grand Jasná, Boutique Hotel Tri Studničky, Chalets Jasná De Luxe, Hotel Srdiečko, and Million Star Hotel. TMR is also the owner of Aquapark Tatralandia, the largest Slovak aquapark with year-round operation, which besides water entertainment includes Tropical Paradise, a special tropical indoor hall with sea water, as well as accommodation in bungalows and apartments of Holiday Village Tatralandia. In the High Tatras TMR owns and operates the resort Vysoké Tatry with mountain areas of Tatranská Lomnica, Starý Smokovec and Štrbské Pleso, which TMR co-manages. In the High Tatras TMR also owns hotels Grandhotel Praha Tatranská Lomnica, Grandhotel Starý Smokovec, and Hotel FIS Štrbské Pleso. TMR also owns 19% in Melida, a.s., which leases and operates the resort Špindlerův Mlýn in the Czech Republic. In Poland TMR owns the Szczyrk resort. TMR also owns and leases to third parties hotels Slovakia, Kosodrevina, Liptov and Ski&Fun Záhradky a Bungalovy. By the end of 2013 nearly EUR 190 mil. have been invested into development and modernization of TMR’s resorts. TMR shares are traded on three European stock exchanges – in Bratislava, Prague, and Warsaw.