Viad Corp (NYSE:VVI) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Steve Moster: I would imagine it’s maybe all 3 but just trying to get a sense of where we go from here, some of those newer experiences. Tyler, you did indeed imagine correctly, it is all 3. And if you look at where we are, Sky Lagoon 27%, wire Las Vegas, so far this year, excited about where we are at 35 Golden SkyBridge, up 37%. So it’s exciting to see in the quarter. We see ample room for continued growth and we also see continued opportunity in white space periods of the year. We see ample opportunity at different times of the season and so different times of the day. So we’re going to continue. And part of that all drives what you see on Page 14 which is our margin expansion. And it connects into just our performance as attractions perform better, those dollars go straight to the bottom line. So really price, refreshed buy, that’s what drives the business.

Tyler Batory: And then just as a follow-up and I know this topic has come up quite a bit with respect to the margin at Pursuits and the year-over-year growth there was really very strong. But you’re still quite a bit away from where you were in 2019. Is it as simple as closing the same-store visitation gap in getting more groups in and that maybe should get you back to that mid-50s where you were in the years pre-coded? Or maybe just the cost inflation and some shifts in the business mix, perhaps make that on the a cleanable?

Steve Moster: Yes, I’ll speak to it for the year-round basis because I think when you look at the quarter, there’s some variation per quarter. But when we look at year-round margin performance, we have clear sight and confidence to 30% EBITDA margin in 2024. And we’re not going to stop there. We’re going to continue to build. Our ultimate goal is to get back to 33% EBITDA margin and be able to hold that position forever. So it’s a combination of things, prudently managing our costs and working hard on our supply chain. It’s also seeing the return of attraction visitation. It’s managing labor well and continuing to manage revenue dynamically and that gets us back to our historical levels. They’re just slightly below. But I think, again, a very positive position at 33% over the long term.

Tyler Batory: Maybe last one for me, just broadly strategic, Steve. I think you’ve been a while since I’ve asked you this. But from an acquisition perspective in certain areas within the user travel, hospitality, it seems like there’s some opportunities coming up with respect to refinancings and whatnot, maybe some for sellers. Any sort of interesting titbits in terms of the landscape that you’re seeing out there? Would you like to perhaps grow externally on the Pursuit side of things? Are you looking at acquisitions right now? Do you have a pipeline? Or are you maybe a little more focused on kind of operations and refining and investing in the assets that you have right now?

Steve Moster: Yes, Tyler, we — our strategy remains the same which is we’re very focused on refresh build by. We have a lot of opportunities within our current portfolio at Pursuit. We do have a healthy pipeline of opportunities from an M&A perspective. I think the environment has changed. I mean, the cost of capital is higher than it was in prior years. And so the hurdle rate for us to invest money has obviously increased but we still see good opportunities both inside our portfolio from a refresh or from a build perspective and we see some externally from a buy perspective. So we continue to look at things but there is a higher bar than what we’ve seen, say, 18 months, 2 years ago.

Operator: The next question today comes from the line of Alex Fuhrman from Craig Hallum. Please go ahead. Your line is now open.

Alex Fuhrman: David, I wanted to ask about the Pursuit Pass. It sounds like that’s been something of a home run this year. Can you tell us which attractions have really been driving the purchase of it? Has it been more your tried and true attractions like the BAM Gondola? Or is it maybe more people go into the newer attractions like the Sky Bridge and buying it there? And then curious how people are using it? Are they using the path at the more popular attractions like the way people would spend just their own cash? And generally speaking, are people taking advantage of it and getting their money’s worth? Curious what the behavior around that path has been?

David Barry: Yes. I think it’s exciting. What’s interesting with it is behavior, as people are buying the pass and using it, they’re really drawn to the flexibility that the product provides, the ability to visit all of our attractions over a period of time. And that might be a 7-day stay within the Jasper collection or someone that purchased one on a regional basis and they’re continuing to do day trips to various locations. We’ve had good utilization in each of the attractions and that’s just been very encouraging. And what it’s done, I think, is also introduced people to some of the newer attractions because it’s included in their path. So perhaps they had considered — would I go all the way from Calgary to Jasper to experience the lean like, yes, they’re excited to do it and the Golden SkyBridge as well.

So we’re quite pleased with the program. We’re encouraged. We already are launching for holiday sales so that you can buy your Pursuit Pass for your family for next year, if you like to, before the Christmas holidays. And we’re quite encouraged by the program and the participation.

Alex Fuhrman: And then I’m curious, it looks like right now that’s just for your attractions in the Canadian Rockies. I’m curious if you would look to either doing a similar path in some of your other geographies in Montana or Alaska or even just maybe including some of those geographies in the Pursuit Pass and trying to get people to make additional trips.

David Barry: It is something we’re taking a really good look at. We wanted to test it on a fairly major scale to see first demand for the product and watch the utilization patterns. But I think it’s a good comparison to some of the other industries that have had seen real increases in visitation and participation rates as people plan destination groups around where they have access to attractions. So we’re excited about the potential for it into the future and working hard on moving it forward in the right way.