Strong consumer demand from the UK and Europe for low-cost destinations in Asia helped drive bookings for Hostelworld in the first half of the year.
The budget accommodation OTA saw net bookings rise by 9% year-on-year to 3.7 million.
This was driven by record performances in Asia and Central America.
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Booking values fell by 10% over the first six months of 2023 to €13.60 due to a greater proportion of Asian destination bookings and a slight increase in the proportion of solo customers, according to the company.
Net revenue was up 1% to €46.4 million as the company reported a €4 million operating profit compared to a loss of €1.7 million in the same period last year.
Hostelworld said: “During the first six months of the year, net bookings grew 9% year-on-year driven by strong consumer demand for low-cost destinations.
:This trend was driven primarily by strong growth in net bookings made by UK customers and European customers, travelling to lower cost destinations in Asia and resulted in significant growth in lower ABV [average booking value] net bookings.
“Consequently, higher cost ABV net bookings to destinations in Europe reduced year-on-year.
“Strong consumer demand for lower cost destinations for the half year overall has resulted in ABVs contracting by 10% year-on-year driven by the reduction in average bed prices on a booked basis.
“Over the balance of the year, we expect to continue to see strong customer demand for lower cost destinations in Asia and other regions.”
Looking forward, the company said it “remains confident in our differentiated growth strategy”.
It reaffirmed full year earnings guidance in line with market consensus, in the absence of any “deterioration in the macro-economic climate or the occurrence of significant air travel-related disruptions”.
Chief executive Gary Morrison said: “We have continued to provide our customers with enhanced social network product features, added more hostel inventory to our platform, and have continued to upgrade our platform towards a fully cloud native architecture.
“In respect of delivering on our key sustainability strategic goals, we launched our ‘Staircase to Sustainability’ platform to deliver ongoing sustainability improvements in the hostel industry.”