The Hotusa Group expects to grow in 2023 above 10% in turnover and ebitda after closing last year with an increase of 1.5% in its sales compared to 2019, when its consolidated revenues were 1,269 million euros, as explained in an interview with EFE by its president, Amancio López.
While waiting for the final data at the end of 2022, the Spanish tourism group, which operates in more than 130 countries, also foresees a consolidated EBITDA close to that of 2019 (162 million) year that – given the exceptionality of the 2020 and 2021 years due to the pandemic – the company uses as a comparative reference to show that 2022 was the year of recovery to pre-COVID levels.
These results were based on the rebound in demand, especially since last summer, and on the improvement of efficiency ratios, which allowed the company to continue growing in its hotel operating area and enter new markets such as Slovenia, where it became the first Spanish hotel operator to enter that country.
Regarding the improvement of efficiency, López stressed that the main key to this factor lies in the cohesion and commitment of the teams, since he considers that “teams make companies grow when people can grow within them”.
The company, which has a workforce of 5,000 people, is organized into three business units: hotel services, integrated under the umbrella of the Keytel brand; distribution, which operates as Restel; and the hotel operating area, Eurostars Hotel Company, which has more than 250 establishments in 17 countries.
All the divisions of the company have registered growth during the past year and in the case of Keytel, the hotel services area, López stressed that, for the tenth consecutive year, it led in 2022 the ranking of independent hotel consortia in the world, according to the classification made by the North American specialized magazine Hotels Magazine.
López explained that Grupo Hotusa wants to continue growing in 2023 in its hotel chain, Eurostars Hotel Company, both in Spain and in the rest of Europe and Latin America, in addition to prospectively probing business possibilities in Africa and in the Asian market, where the company has no presence.
And it will do so mainly through management and lease contracts, while continuing its expansion in the area of hotel services and distribution.
As for its hotel division, it will continue to influence its line of strengthening the brand as a synonym of reference in cultural tourism offer, after having created last year the Aurea brand, which groups its signature hotels located in historic or emblematic buildings.
On the other hand, the company incorporated at the end of the year to its portfolio the well-known hotel La Pleta in Baqueira Beret, although López assures that it is a punctual operation to reinforce its high-end segment, but that the group continues to focus on its urban and cultural offer.
“We must stimulate quality tourism, because it is the one that leaves income and generates wealth and employment respecting the environment and values,” says the president of Grupo Hotusa.
Regarding the impact of COVID, he assured that it caused great concern throughout the tourism sector, but that he sees the future with optimism because “it is a sector that is not going to stop, because traveling is the industry of happiness and is the greatest aspiration of humanity”.