Hotel Lotte Co., a major hotel and duty-free shop operator in South Korea, has said its net profit sank 61 percent on-year in the first quarter, though it made a turnaround to an operating profit.

Net profit came to 18.6 billion won ($13.9 million) in the January-March period, down from 48.6 billion won over the same period last year, according to the company's regulatory filing Monday.

Hotel Lotte swung to an operating profit of 35.7 billion in the three months ended in March from an operating loss of 124.4 billion won a year earlier.

Still, Hotel Lotte said its sales fell 25 percent on-year to 1.1 trillion won.

By business, the hotel sector saw its sales surge 67 percent on-year to 264.2 billion won and its operating losses narrow to 17.3 billion won thanks to an increase in foreign travelers with the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions and hosting of big events, such as corporate meetings, conventions and exhibitions.

The company said demand for domestic travelers weakened at the same time due to the resumption of overseas travel.

Lotte Duty Free, the travel retail division of Hotel Lotte, saw its sales decrease 39.5 percent on-year to 754.2 billion won, but swung to an operating profit of 35.8 billion won on-year thanks to cheaper commission paid to travel agencies for attracting Chinese traders and a rise in inbound travelers from Southeast Asia and Japan.

Lotte Duty Free said its quarterly overseas sales surged by some fivefold from a year ago. (Yonhap)