LONG BEACH : Queen Mary Posts Loss of $4.2 Million in 1993

The Queen Mary lost $4.2 million in 1993, with only one profitable month in the first year of operation under new management.

Officials from the RMS Foundation, headed by Joseph F. Prevratil, attributed the loss mainly to start-up costs and said December, 1993, earnings of $33,420 indicated a turnaround.

Prevratil said he expected to lose money the first year. RMS spent $3 million initially to reopen and refurbish the city’s best-known landmark after the former operators, The Walt Disney Co., left in 1992. RMS, a nonprofit management group, took over the ship last February and began full tourism and hotel operations in June. The Queen Mary employs 550 people and will add 200 jobs in the summer, Prevratil said.

Last year about 760,000 people visited the attraction. RMS paid about $223,000 in hotel bed taxes and made about $221,000 in lease payments to Long Beach.

The hotel currently has a 38% occupancy rate, Prevratil said.