RIGA - Akvaparks, the owner of the Livu Akvaparks water park in Jurmala, posted losses of 124,100 lats (176,437 euros) last year. Sales, however, were up 11.2 percent to 2.9 million lats.
The company attributed its sales success to the recent boom in tourism in Latvia. "Livu Akvaparks, which is the largest and most modern recreation facility in the Baltic region, sees a growing number of visitors from Lithuania and Estonia, although the main increase in visitors comes from within Latvia," said executive director Velta Lasmane.
She said the company invested a large part of its revenues into development last year. Akvaparks expanded its catering services and developed its outdoor recreation facilities.
"Currently, we are working to achieve our strategic objectives 's to be the largest and most modern recreation park in the Baltics. Similar parks in the rest of the world usually have adjacent hotels, and our priority is to develop the infrastructure and services," Lasmane said.
Livu Akvaparks has boasted 830,000 visitors since opening in December 2003. Half of the guests are tourists, coming mainly from Lithuania, Estonia and Scandinavia. This year, the park plans to have one million visitors.
Akvaparks was founded in 2000. The company's largest shareholder is Alina, with a 50 percent stake, with the rest belonging to four individuals.
As many as 16 million euros were invested in constructing the recreation facility. In 2004, the company posted 276,400 lats in losses on sales of 2.62 million lats
