Carnival Corp achieved its best-ever first-quarter revenue as booking volumes soared to an all-time high.
“This has been a fantastic start to the year,” chief executive Josh Weinstein said in an earnings release on Wednesday.
In what is a traditionally weak tourism period, Miami-based Carnival registered a $214m net loss for the three months through February, compared with a $693m deficit in the corresponding period 12 months ago.
Booking volumes for all future sailings “exceeded expectations”, the company said, driven by demand for trips in 2025 and beyond.
Increased demand also allowed the company to achieve “considerably higher prices” in constant currency on a year-on-year basis as less inventory remains for sale, “in line with the company’s strategy to pull the booking curve forward”.
First-quarter revenue hit a record $5.41bn for the period, up at an annual pace of 22%.
As a result, the company raised its net yield guidance for the full year 2024 by over a point to about 9.5%.
“With much of this year on the books, we have even greater conviction in delivering record revenues and Ebitda, along with a step change improvement in operating performance,” Weinstein said.
Carnival was hit hard by the Covid pandemic.
The situation, however, improved considerably due to pent-up demand for tourism services after the end of the pandemic.
Last September, the company posted its first quarterly profit after the crisis.
Since then, Carnival ordered its first newbuildings in five years and saw S&P boost its credit rating by two notches, moving it closer to investment-grade status.
