Good afternoon and welcome to this Valamar Online Investor Day. As we had said last year, when we published our strategy for the third trimester, we will always let you know what the results are in the first three trimesters, what are the expectations for the end of the year, and how we mean to realize our strategy. Today, what we want to show you is, first of all, something about the results of Croatian tourism in the year 2025, the business results in the first three trimesters this year, and the projection at the end of the year, and then the realization of the projection of the strategic key indicators from our strategy for the year 2026, in line with our expectations. At the end, a question and answer session. Me and my colleague are here for you to answer your questions or to clarify anything.
In regards to the results of Croatian tourism in the year 2025, you have probably been following the media, and I believe that there has been various information in those channels from the beginning of the year when it was said that the period before the season was a little bit slow, not good enough, and we've been discussing about whether Croatia is too expensive. There were various different teasing about the fact that the market was going negative. Let us see what actually happened. First of all, we've had a record number of overnight stays in the first six months of the year 2025, 1.2% growth as opposed to last year. If we compare that with the best year we've ever had, it means a 0.9% growth. Generally, when we look at the number of overnight stays from the year 2019, that number is stable.
Half of the overnight stays regards July and August, so during the summer, and 44% out of the main season. If we analyze that even better, what you can see in those graphical representations, we can see that two-thirds of overnight stays as regards rental regard July and August. You see that in the short term, that is the problem that part of the season. During this year, we'll see that we'll have 61% overnight stays out of the main season, which is good news. When we're talking about hotels and camps, they broaden their offer, they broaden their season, they prolong it. Let us first look at the right part of this graph. From the year 2019 until this day, we have 2 million beds in Croatian tourism. If we compare that with the beginning of the year 2000, that is a million beds more.
When we look at this structure, you can see that when we talk about short-term rent, we have 300,000 more beds, 22% growth, which means around 550 greater, larger hotels that were built and also apartments that are used for tourism purposes. On the other side, as regards to our offers to weekends, we have a growth of 3% in the past six years, as 5,000 new beds in hotels, in 10 new hotels. That structure is not ideal, but what you can see on the graph on the left is that hotels have a good occupancy in the year 2019 and this year as well. They are stable as regards to the number of overnight stays. The camps have a very positive trend, 12% of growth from the year 2019. When we talk about short-term rental, we had a negative trend if compared with the year 2019.
We have a minus 2.1%. The offer of capacity in this sense increased, and the number of overnight stays decreased, which brings us to this slide. When we are talking about short-term rental, the occupancy decreased from 46 to 37, and that category has a negative trend. When we look at the total numbers of Croatian tourists, they come from this segment mainly. When you look at camps, there we have more overnight stays from 75 to 82. We're talking about occupancy here. We've been discussing also about source markets, and this is just to give you an overview of the first nine months this year. Croatian tourism generated 75% of the whole overnight stays. Then we have other markets, Germany with the greatest numbers.
What is very interesting is that Croatia this year, if compared to the period from five years ago, has become the second most important market for tourism in this region. We have our traditional markets. Let me mention also the Eastern markets: Poland, Czech Republic, and the Slovak Republic. 18.2% of the markets, which means that they are a great market with a great potential of growth. Another thing is Italy and the UK. They used to be very important markets for us. They have a lower percentage. What is also interesting are the trends, light blue, geo markets if compared to 2025, compared to the year 2019. Then dark blue, the comparison between 2025 to 2024. Germany and Austria are in a phase of stabilization if compared with the past years, but we're still talking about a plus 4%.
If we compare that with the year 2019, which was the best year, we didn't feel a negative trend since the situation is the best in general. A positive trend from Poland, a growth of +18%, and the USA +32%, which are really great trends that I believe will be continuing in the next years. Italy and France are markets that have the greatest negative trends, and the UK is at a level before the crisis, but with a slightly positive trend, although in the negative, as you can see. We have many opportunities for growth in the next period. What you cannot see on this graph is the Middle East markets that haven't come back after the period of crisis. The Far East, pardon me. If we're talking about tourism, yes, there is a great number of people say they spend less.
You can see the growth of +8.3% in the revenues of accommodation facilities and bars, catering, and many other facilities. When we're talking about July and August, 5.6% growth, which is logical. I believe that in those months, we have been working very well last year, so it's very difficult to have a greater growth if we don't change our offer. The cost of work is a great theme nowadays in Croatia, so in Croatian tourism as well. What you can see here on this graph is an oversight of the increase in the cost of labor costs in Croatia and an average in the Mediterranean EU countries from 50.1%. The increase is 50.1% more than in comparison with the other countries of the Mediterranean. The growth increase was here 36.9%. What is good news, though, is what we have achieved with that increase.
Now, the average of labor costs amounts to 76%. We are better off in the better than Spain and Greece. Those are the data for the year 2024. Last year, the increase of minimum paychecks was 15%. We believe that we will be able to improve on that still. We believe that that is a very good data because you've seen yesterday what the decision of our government was: minimum paycheck growth +8%. That is a decision on the level of the government. We have reached this 8% growth, and we believe that the trends will continue and reach a two-digit number. We have reached certain levels as opposed to the Mediterranean competitors. A great theme, the growth in prices, whether Croatia is too expensive. As you can see from this graph, here there are changes of prices from 2020 to 2024.
When it comes to accommodation prices, after the crisis, Croatia had a bigger drop of 9.7% compared to the average for the Mediterranean, but it also recovered very quickly: 8.1% in 2021, 17.8% in 2023, and last year. As you can see, there has been a huge growth. In hotels, we had a lower increase than the Mediterranean average, which means that we actually reached a good level before that, the year before that, also at the level of the Mediterranean. When it comes to indices, if we take 100 as the average for Croatia, Croatia is 95.4%. This is a bit over the average for the Mediterranean, and it's adequate if we take into consideration that Croatian tourism has about 187,000 beds in the hotels here. If you compare that to over a million in Spain or Turkey, it's a very small segment.
I think it's a good result, and our development should be about the average for the Mediterranean. This is what our sector deserves. When it comes to this year, generally speaking, there has been stabilization if compared to the past. Stabilization of prices for the tourism sector between 4%- 6%. I also believe that the Croatian average is going to be at that level, which means that we're going back to normal and that we've overcome the crisis. In the Mediterranean, things are going well. I hope that we'll continue producing increases in the future as well as other Mediterranean countries. Just a summary for this year, we are stabilizing things. This is a new environment, and it's just the best tourism year until now. If we consider all the graphs we've seen, we shouldn't be going back to 2019. We'll hold a new parameter for the future.
Generally speaking, seasonality hasn't changed, but hotels reach 61% of overnight stays outside the peak season, which confirms a very successful development and a change. It was the extension of the tourism season. The German and Austrian market has stabilized from 4%- 5%. That's a level of about 5% above 2019, and it was something we could expect. There weren't any flights back then in 2019, so people didn't have the possibility to reach other destinations. It's difficult that we'll be able to hold that high average, but this piece of data, I think, is very, very good for these source markets. When it comes to Eastern markets, we are holding our market share, and I think these markets are very interesting: Poland, Czech Republic, etc. Also, the UK, the United States.
I think because of new flights coming in, because of their visiting our country outside the peak season, this is a very, very interesting source market. Also, we must say that short-term leases are dominating our market, 1.5 million beds. We've seen a negative trend regarding this segment. If we take into consideration that our legislation is going into a certain direction, it's not necessarily a bad thing because we don't want to have overtourism in Croatia. We want to stabilize this segment, and I think this negative trend is actually good. When it comes to quality, I think it is increasing. Also, when it comes to hotels, they've always been stable. Regarding the camps, they have a higher ratio according to all indicators. Income has increased by 8.3% in 2025, mostly thanks to pre-season and post-season. Labor costs have increased more quickly than competition.
If you sum up the 20%, 15%, and 8% in the last three years, you have two-digit growth for the minimum wage. It's possible that in the next future, there will not be a huge increase in wage levels. I think that this trend of increase for the minimum wage is going to stabilize in the next future. Also, sales costs have increased more quickly than the average for the Mediterranean. They've brought us to a Mediterranean average level. This is why our hotel industry deserves where it is now. When it comes to our business results for the first three quarters of 2025 and the projection for the end of the year, in the first three quarters, we've reached 10.5% operating revenues, and also EBITDA 12.6% is a very solid result.
When it comes to other key business indicators, I would like to mention that we've had a good increase of borrowing income, 12.12%, as a result of an increase of overnight stays of 3.7% and an average price of 10.4%. The average price has increased with new investments, new hotels, new quality investments. Good results have been achieved in sales and growth in all destinations. We have a small increase compared to last year, which was a record year. We've seen a sort of stabilization this year. That's for Dubrovnik, I mean. Arba Resort is our strategic investment. If compared to other hotels, it reached the biggest individual growth for revenue, and this amounts to 33%. Campsites have achieved a very good result in this premium segment, and they've been achieving good results. They continue to have growth. They continue to have good demand.
In Europe, we've reached, if compared to European results, we've reached very good results as well. Germany and Austria are still the most important source markets for Valamar Riviera, with a 47% share in overnight stays. There is a positive trend here. We have a very good ratio of domestic guests and also guests from the UK, which we mentioned before, and Poland, which shows stable growth. Direct sales is part of our strategic goals, and this is our most profitable channel. In the first nine months, we've achieved 66.5% of overall income in this, and this is in line with our ambitions. Operating costs have increased by 10.3%. Primarily, this was influenced by a huge increase of labor costs, 13.4%. This was linked to the increase of minimum wage increase. That's a driver, of course, of cost in general here.
If you see a slow decrease of profitability, this was not connected to other factors, but precisely because of the increase of labor costs, which we mentioned before. Guest satisfaction shows a very good 89% on the basis of over 150,000 surveys. This is a good result for our quality ambitions. When it comes to market capitalization, as we've seen in our report, the value is EUR 786 million, which is an increase of 19.1%, a dividend yield of 4.6% for this year. What we expect until the end of the year is EUR 456 million revenues, a growth between 9.6%- 10.5%. As regards to the adjusted EBITDA, a growth from EUR 128 million- EUR 131 million, + 6.1%- 8.6%. We have published the results yesterday. These are the results for the third trimester, and you know that it doesn't influence very much on the overall results.
We believe that we will be able to achieve the results we wanted to achieve for the end of the year. Now, let us see what is the projection of the key indicator that we're publishing our strategy for the year 2026. What we want to achieve until the end of next year. First of all, strategic investments. We have planned to invest EUR 450 million in the period. With the end of the year 2025, we have invested EUR 450 million, so 80% of what we had, 68% of what we had planned. Obertauern, EUR 18 million from the planned 14. We have realized our plans on Hvar, 430. Probably, we won't be able to finish all our plans, but EUR 44 million were planned for Arba Resort on Rab. What we planned for Dubrovnik, Sunny, Krka Rabat, Makarska, with a total value of EUR 33 million here.
We have realized all the projects that we had planned. The hotels, Valamar Hotels in Dubrovnik, EUR 33 million have realized a project, Arba Resort, which was opened this summer even before what we had planned. The investment amounts to EUR 54 million. This is our first year we employed all the people that we needed, and this is one of the most successful destinations for us this year. Pical Resort, the investment is now on one of the greatest projects in Croatian tourism. Everything is as planned. We want to open the hotel in the soft opening during the spring and the tourism season. We will see the hotel full functioning. We have all the phases taking place, from employment to management. We're talking about 514 rooms, five-star hotels at the greatest level.
For Valamar Riviera, a great step forward, not only because it will financially influence our business, but because it will be open the whole year and it will positively influence the repositioning of the whole of the destination. We need to mention that we also have one of the greatest might, so operational segment for Valamar Riviera that will see us very active there in the next years. When we're talking about the portfolio, here are the results. The self-revenues per unit will be more than EUR 21,500, which means an 8% growth. The result is also a greater occupancy and an increase in the average price. EUR 36,000 for hotels and summer locations in line with our expectations. We will see what the market will tell until the year 2026. In the camps, this figure amounts to EUR 11,000. Everything in line with what we had planned.
As regards the care for our employees, you know we have a lot of people that are employed in Valamar Riviera. We had great plans. We're talking about 8,690 employees that work during the season in Valamar Riviera, 400 more as if compared to the year before. Let us look at the structure. We're talking about 74% of local employees. You know that part of the strategy of Valamar Riviera and philosophy is to have local employees, to keep them here. In a world of new hotels and labor, we have to have a controlled quota of also other workers. Domiciled employees amount to 73%, seasonal 47%, and all others coming from the region mostly, and then from faraway countries, a smaller percentage. That shows that that issue is very important to us. 47% of seasonal employees that come back to our company, which is very, very important. Why?
Because we don't have anymore the figure of continuous seasonal workers. That's changed in the market. We're working on our own model, on seasonal returnees. Those who come to our locations come back every year, and they guarantee our level of quality. As regards to education, 50 years of education for everyone, especially on our locations on Rab, the Arba Resort, 50 hours of education per employee. Growth in the wages above the average for this industry, a + 18%. We're heading towards that objective. When we're talking about the focus on guests, 1.2 million guests this year. We have increased our marketing basis. The guests we usually communicate with are always there. We have a growth of 17% with our loyal guests. Apart from our loyal guests, 769,000 guests more. As regards to the quality, as I have already mentioned, 89% is our quality rating.
That is really great and is a result of what our management has done and everybody dealing with quality. Sales and marketing, excellent results, growth around 12%. We're talking about EUR 40 million- EUR 45 million this year in this 12%. We're a great company. Here, maybe we have made a smaller step forward towards the pre and post-season. We're talking mainly about the main season, but we will be working on that further on, creating new products that mean to increase that kind of revenue. I have mentioned the new contents that we will have in Pical Resort specifically. EUR 243 million that we have realized of direct sales through our web, really an excellent result with a growth of + 15%. Last but not least, sustainability and social responsibility.
I would say that what we've been doing in the past years has resulted in this many awards: ESG rating, EcoVadis first place in turn, a gold DGNB certificate for sustainable construction. We are one of the first hotels. Gold DGNB certificate for sustainable construction. We are one of the first hotel companies that is patented in that sense, green construction as well, and sustainable nature around our hotels. This year, again, Bloomberg has given us the second place as regards to sustainable companies. EcoVadis as well. We're in the 5% best companies in the world. That was one of our objectives we wanted to achieve until the year 2026. We have been able to do that in the year 2025. I would like to thank you for your attention.
In a couple of minutes, we will have a Q&A session, so our colleagues will be able to answer your questions.
Thank you for listening. Thank you for your questions. I'll try to give you an answer if possible. How do you find the growth of prices for accommodation and other services this year? What products and destinations has the greatest growth been achieved? How do you see further potential for price growth as regards to your portfolio? As we've seen in the presentation, there is a stabilization of prices in the Mediterranean. According to expectations, there will be a growth of 4%- 6%. What does this mean? Next year will be back to normal, I would say, when it comes to the growth of prices in the Mediterranean. This depends also on how much you invest into quality.
If you invest into quality, this we see in Croatia, your hotel and campsite offer is modest. If you have a new product, prices are welcomed, are well accepted. If we see our prices in Valamar Riviera, if compared to the prices of Italy, France, or other countries, or Austria, still aren't the most expensive hotels, I would say. Second question. Do you expect in 2026 there will be an increase of labor cost? A continuation of this increase and other costs as well. This we touched upon also. We saw that there has been an increase in the last few years. The overall labor cost has increased by 50%. When it comes to the tourism sector, there have been some decisions regarding the increase of minimum wages. There was 20%, 12%, 15% increase in the last few years, and 8% growth for the next year.
This is the decision of the Croatian government. I think it's going to influence further labor costs. I think there will be a further increase, but I am sure not as it was in the last three years. We'll not reach that level for sure. Do you expect that the new construction law is going to influence Valamar Riviera campsites? How many mobile homes and revenues are endangered if we have to eliminate 2,400, go back 20 or 100 m from the coastline? Public consultation has been launched for this, and we are trying to see in what way we can best regulate bad practices which have happened here and there in Croatia. The intention of this law is to correct that bad practice.
I can say to all investors that since the very beginning and in the public consultation, we've seen that also that there has been an adaptation process. In the middle term, I don't think it won't influence our business very much. In the long term, we'll see what the legislative framework is going to look like in the future. When will Valamar Riviera publish its new strategy since this development cycle is going to be over in 2026? Thank you for your question. We've started working on our future strategy for 2030, and in the first part of next year, we expect it to be finalized. This publication, its finalization, is going to be in the autumn of 2026 when we also reach the objectives of the former strategy. We'll close this chapter and open a new one for 2030. Question for Marko. Thank you, Željko.
This is a very expected, difficult question. Is the price value or the value of shares on the stock exchange, the perception of investors, adequately mirroring the growth of business revenues for Valamar Riviera? We've reached an all-time high in this period regarding the price of shares. I think it was EUR 6.76. Yesterday, we've seen, according to the publication of our quarterly results, that the market has had a positive reaction, and we've seen an increase of the price of 3.5%. Our opinion is that if we continue providing this kind of result in line with our strategy, and we always report on this, our results are continuously very, very good.
If we continue to reach the objectives we've foreseen in our strategy, I think there will always be new space for the development of our company, and this is going to be visible in the stock exchange of Zagreb as well. We've very clearly communicated our expectations when it comes to our dividend policy. If liquidity conditions allow us, we will continue ensuring this at a level of 4%. For next year, we hope to reach even higher results. On the basis of all these development plans and strategic directives, I think this leaves enough room for our optimistic expectations when it comes to stock exchange developments. Ivana, a question for you. Thank you for your question. To what extent are portfolio investments sustainable, and to what extent does Valamar Riviera apply green building and environmental protection standards?
We follow European sustainability reporting standards, which, among other things, also cover investment activities in tourism facilities. Since 2021, Valamar Riviera has reported a percentage of investment activities that are eligible under the EU taxonomy, which means that within this regulation framework are potentially sustainable and suitable for green financing. For instance, in the case of Pical Resort, this is our greatest investment right now, according to EU taxonomy criteria for the new building construction. 100% of investments are actually taxonomy eligible. In the case of Arba Resort, this percentage exceeded 98% for the criteria for the renovation of existing buildings. We also developed internal green building standards, which we apply to all our projects. In the case of Pical Resort, where green building standards are implemented to a greater extent, we can underline some elements such as, for instance, in Pical Resort, we used existing foundations.
All the demolition excavation material has been reused. The overall energy comes from 100% renewable energy sources. 5% of electricity will be generated by solar panels installed on site. We use heat pumps and other highly efficient energy use systems, bio-composting food waste, have green facades, green roofs, aluminum joinery. This is made of recycled aluminum. Rainwater will be used for irrigation, and so on. In addition to these green building standards, Pical Resort, just like Arba Resort, will serve as an example of sustainable tourism development model, which we've been developing for many years. This foresees that the resort is integrated into the local community. It offers many publicly accessible facilities, and it creates a large number of year-round jobs. This contributes to economic activities, to the growth of the destination, as well as to state and local budgets.
I think these are all the questions we've gotten until now. If you have any additional questions, you can always send them via our email address. That's the address you used for your registration for Investor Day, and we will be happy to give you an answer. I would like to thank you now for your attention.