Cruise pax volumes grew by 26.8% year-on-year in the first six months of 2019.

A strategy to transform the travel retail environments at its cruise ports is paying dividends, reports Global Ports Holding (GPH).

The recent transformation of Barcelona Cruise Port Terminals A & B has been ‘well received’ and is already yielding increased passenger spending, says the company.

As reported, GPH issued a request for proposal last month for a seven-year contract to build and manage retail concessions at four of its ports – Malaga, Zadar, Cagliari and Catania.

GPH this week published its interim results for the six months ending 30 June. Cruise revenue lifted by 6.6% to $23.9m with EBIDTA rising by 14.3% to $16.8m.

PAX UP 27% IN FIRST HALF

Passenger volumes surged by 28.8% year-on-year (+8.6% organic), with 2.1m pax handled for the period in question. Ege Port (Turkey) and Valletta (Malta) were singled out for particular praise.

Conversely, commercial EBITDA fell 13.1% to $22.3m for the period in question alongside commercial revenue at -10% to $30.8m.

Emre Sayin, Chief Executive Officer, GPH said: “We have seen another record performance from our cruise business in the first half of the year, with strong growth in passenger volumes translating into strong growth in cruise EBITDA. We are pleased with the significant progress made in our new port investment strategy and expect to achieve further significant progress in the second half of the year.

“Our commercial ports are not immune to macro-economic factors and as a result recent trading has been challenging. Our previous experience suggests that the trading performance will improve over time and we continue to work to diversify the revenue streams at our commercial ports.

“Trading since the period end at our Cruise ports has continued to be in line with our expectations, while weak trading trends at our commercial ports have thus far continued into H2 2019. We expect to deliver low single-digit growth in organic EBITDA for the full year.”

The DF&TR shops at Barcelona Cruise Port Terminal’s A and B recently underwent a renovation. 

GPH is a globally established cruise port operator, possessing in the investment or management of 15 cruise ports and two commercial ports across nine countries.

In 2018, GPH handled 8.5 million cruise passengers throughout its portfolio.

All images courtesy of Global Ports Holding.