THE Hanover marine park of Dolphin Cove, the newest addition to the tourism attraction, has seen increasing sales since its opening in August 2010, even though cruise ship support has not yet materialised for the location, says Dolphin Cove CEO Stafford Burrowes.

Burrowes said that with Phase One of the park completed, attraction revenue increased from $11.8 million in December 2010, to $14.2 million in January and $15.3 million in February 2011 without cruise ship support.

The company’s audited end-of-year financial statements for December 31, 2010 showed also that total revenue for the Hanover location was $22.2 million since its start, up to the year-end.

According to Burrowes, the August to December period is the slowest time of year for the tourism industry and the new facility was not included in tours offered by the cruise shipping lines during the period. However, Dolphin Cove should begin to receive cruise ship visitors to the park by May this year as plans are in place to sell the attraction to the Carnival Cruise ship line.

The Falmouth Pier, which is also expected to supply visitors to the location, opened earlier this month, with Oasis of the Seas, the world’s largest cruise ship docking at the pier on March 22.

Additionally, construction of Phase Two of the Hanover marine park has begun and should be completed for the next winter tourist season, Burrowes outlined.

However, the Ocho Rios park, the flagship location for Dolphin Cove, saw revenues of $180.5 million between January to February 2011, a six per cent increase over the corresponding period of 2010. Burrowes noted that the opening of the new facility in Hanover did not result in a reduction of guest numbers at the Ocho Rios Park.

Total revenues for the Group increased six per cent to $879.6 million for the period, but profit after tax fell 34 per cent to $69.2 million, $35.6 million less than that recorded in 2009. Burrowes said the profitability was affected by income tax expense, a factor the Group may not have to contend with in coming years.

“The most significant impact on the Group’s profitability in 2010 compared to 2009 was the income tax expense of $37.6 million, representing an effective tax rate of 35.2 per cent. For the next 10 years, the company will benefit from tax remissions as a result of being listed on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) for the prescribed period,” Burrowes noted.

The company became the seventh to be listed on the Junior Stock Exchange and the first tourism company to do so on December 22 last year, therefore it would not have seen the effects of the tax credit in the end-of-year financial results. The Dolphin Cove IPO raised $240 million to fund expansion. The listing was the largest so far on the Junior Market.

Despite a decline year-on- year, Burrowes is confident that the company has performed creditably. “The Group has produced satisfactory profits, with a pre-tax return on equity of 12.5 per cent (2009:13.3 per cent) and pre-tax profit margin of 12.1 per cent of sales (2009:13.2 per cent) considering the start-up of the new park,” said Burrowes. The company incurred a loss at start-up of $12.5 million, which Burrowes said was in keeping with expectations.