Hostelworld cheers record revenues on travel rebound

Hostelworld has reported record generated revenues for the half-year of 2023 as the group continues to bounce back from Covid-19 woes.

The business, which focuses on the hostel market, posted adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation of €5.1million in the six months to 30 June, after suffering a loss of €5.2million over the same period last year. 

The Dublin-based company revealed a 57 per cent increase in record generated revenues to €51.5million (£44.475million).

Net gross merchandise value – the gross transaction value of bookings on its platform before cancellations – also jumped 57 per cent to of €339.5m over the same period.

Hostelworld, however, still reported a loss of €7.5million for the period, though this was an improvement from €14.3million the year prior. 

Hostelworld shares were up by 0.75 per cent to 134p in early morning trading on Thursday.

The company also said that it had seen a ‘robust’ booking growth across all regions Central America, South Asia and southern European countries, which are ahead of pre-pandemic levels. 

Net bookings were up by 64 per cent to 3.4million from the same six month period of last year.

Gary Morrison, chief executive officer of Hostelworld, said: ‘I am delighted to report record generated revenues and improving adjusted EBITDA margins for the half year to date, driven by the continued execution of our Social strategy and operational cost discipline. 

‘This performance also translated directly into strong growth in operating cashflow year on year, which in turn enabled us to strengthen our balance sheet by refinancing our legacy COVID-19 era debt facility at significantly lower interest rates.’

In March, the group revealed that its revenues rebounded last year as bookings bounced back amid the easing of Covid-19 travel restrictions.

The company told investors that long-haul bookings recovered from 27 per cent of 2019 levels in 2021 to 76 per cent by the end of 2022.