Hostelworld eyes operational profitability later this year as travel demand rebounds
Travel platform Hostelworld has said it hopes to be profitable at an operational level in the second half of the year, as holidaymakers have returned in recent months.
In interim results, the London-listed company said net revenue hit €28m in the period, compared to just €2.9m the previous year, as travel restrictions eased.
While overall EBITDA was negative for the first half, June was positive after a surge in bookings that month.
The company posted an adjusted EBITDA loss of €5.2m, slimmer than the €9.7m loss posted in the first half of 2021.
Providing there was no “further deterioration” in the macro-economic situation, “disruption to airline schedules, or escalation of the conflict in Ukraine,” the firm expects to be EBITDA positive in the second half of 2022, Gary Morrison, chief executive officer, said.
He added: “The trends in the first half of 2022 are encouraging and indicate that where markets open up for travel, demand will recover to 2019 levels and that we can gain our share of that growth.”
Booking demand in “top markets” in Southern Europe have exceeded 2019 levels while demand has slowly returned to other parts of the world.
Shares in the company were down some 4.5 per cent on Wednesday afternoon.