Lotte Tour Development said in a quarterly report filed on the 14th that it posted first-quarter revenue of 156.2 billion won and operating profit of 28.8 billion won. Compared with a year earlier, revenue rose 28.1% and operating profit jumped 121%.
The first-quarter improvement was largely driven by parallel growth in its core businesses, the Dream Tower casino and the Grand Hyatt Jeju hotel institutional sector. Despite external variables such as instability in the Middle East, both institutional sectors succeeded in expanding revenue.
Revenue in the casino institutional sector was 118.6 billion won, up 40.3% from 84.6 billion won a year earlier. Casino visitors increased 37.3% from 109,631 in the first quarter of last year to 150,553 this year.
In the casino industry, an increase in drop amount (the amount customers exchange for chips to play) is generally interpreted to mean that casino usage has expanded. Casino revenue is determined by drop amount and hold rate (the percentage of money the casino side wins back in games).
Lotte Tour Development's first-quarter table drop amount increased 36.7% from 419.7 billion won to 573.9 billion won. The table hold rate rose 0.7 percentage point, from 19.0% in the first quarter of last year to 19.7% this year, nearing the 20% range. This is seen as approaching the 26.1% average hold rate in 2025 for nine mega integrated resort casinos in Cotai, Macau, including Galaxy and Venetian.
The hotel institutional sector also continued its growth trend. Hotel revenue was 38.1 billion won, up 20.2% from 31.7 billion won a year earlier. Rooms sold totaled 109,233, up 37.1% from 79,692 a year earlier.
Occupancy also climbed sharply. First-quarter occupancy (OCC) rose from 55.3% last year to 75.9% this year. The share of foreign guests increased from 66.8% to 73.5%.
Along with the increase in room sales, results in the food and beverage (F&B) institutional sector also improved. Customers served totaled 280,530, up 14.5% from a year earlier, and revenue rose 24.1% to 9.5 billion won.
Lotte Tour Development said, "Despite concerns over the Middle East situation and the burden of the off-season, we confirmed record-high revenue and strong profit-generating power starting in the first quarter," adding, "As the full-fledged tourism season begins, we expect a clear 'quantum jump' pattern in annual results this year."