Club Med has seen a recovery in its winter results with bookings for this summer 5.4% ahead of this time last year.
The French all-inclusive resort company achieved a net profit of 10 million euros in the six months ending April, against 3 million euros for the same period last year earlier.
Revenue of around 7 million euros was lost due to negative events around the world in the first half, “but customer shifts to other destinations helped to reduce that impact by almost half,” the company said.
Total sales rose by 12% to 763 million euros from 680 million euros in the first half of 2010. The total number of guests increased by 7% to 599,000 from 560,000.
The number of holidaymakers opting for higher-grade four and five-Trident resorts rose by 22% or 78,000. A total of 72% of customers chose these grade of villages over the winter, compared with 50% four years ago.
Club Med has gained 12,000 new customers in the UK over the past four years, and its year-to-date 2011 sales are up 16% in a market up just 2%, the company said.
Capacity for this summer has been trimmed by 0.8% with the closure of the Athenia village in Greece and Metaponto in Italy, which the company said no longer meets its standards. Capacity in Tunisia has also been adjusted in response to political events in the country.
Club Med is opening the Valmorel village in the Savoy region of France in December. The resort will have 394 four-Trident rooms, 26 suites and 27 chalet-apartments.
Chairman and CEO Henri Giscard d’Estaing said: “The very sharp improvement in first-half results and the increase in the number of our customers, despite an unfavourable environment, have demonstrated the effectiveness of the strategy that Club Med has steadily led since 2004.
“Backed by its historical strengths, Club Med is capitalising on its global market presence and the transformation of its business model, which enable it to spread its risks and adjust capacity to events.
“The over-performance delivered over the winter could therefore enable the group to offset the unfavourable impact over the summer of currently known events.”