Maldives Promotion House – Mauritius-based hotel group Sun Resorts said quarterly pretax profit rose 4.2 percent, helped by a rise in market share and growth at its Maldives unit Kanuhura that offset a small dip in tourist numbers.

Sun Resorts said on Wednesday that while tourist numbers to the Indian Ocean Island fell 0.2 percent in the first quarter, its market share rose because of the April 2011 opening of the Long Beach resort in Mauritius.

First-quarter pretax profit rose to USD 6 million, on revenue up 13 percent to 1.10 billion. Earnings per share dipped to 1.59 rupees from 1.63 rupees.

Tourism typically generates about 10 percent of Mauritius’s gross domestic product. European tourists account for two thirds of arrivals.

The group’s operations in Maldives, best-known as the Indian Ocean’s top five-star beach destination, also reported an improvement in occupancy, despite political turmoil early this year.

It forecast second-quarter earnings would be flat.