Meliá Hotels International has reported profit ex-capital gains of €140 million for financial 2018, an improvement of 13 per cent over the previous year.

The figure comes despite a slight decrease in consolidated revenues, which fell 1.5 per cent to €1,831 million.

Excluding capital gains, group EBITDA also improved by 0.9 per cent to €307.8 million.

Gabriel Escarrer Jaume, chief executive of Meliá Hotels International, said: “Last year was a year marked by a changing environment for a tourism industry which retains its fundamental strengths despite a slowdown in the business cycle which is already evident in certain regions and destinations in the western Mediterranean and the Caribbean.

“Given this situation, the results of our recently completed strategic plan confirm the appropriateness of the decisions made since 2016 to boost our transformation process and ensure we were in a position of greater strength to face a year such as 2019, in which we still foresee important challenges in the business in general, digitalisation, people, climate change and geopolitics.”

RevPAR at Meliá Hotels International improved by 1.7 per cent globally for owned and rented hotels (up 2.7 per cent on a constant currency basis).

Global RevPAR was also affected by lower occupancy rates in the Americas, mainly attributable to the closure of the Meliá Caribe Tropical (Dominican Republic) and Meliá Coco Beach (Puerto Rico), as well as specific problems in certain destinations in Mexico.

The company reported a solid evolution of sales through its own channels.

The consumer-focused Meliá.com increased global sales by 9.7 per cent, while MeliáPro, the channel created to optimise relationships with travel professionals, increased sales by 34.7 per cent.