LONG BEACH : Strong Summer Helps Queen Mary Revenues

The Queen Mary continued to lose money through the first six months of 1994, but the historic ship is having a profitable summer, operators said.

The ship lost about $614,000 from April through June, the second quarter of the year. More than 73,000 people toured the attraction during that time, producing about $4 million in revenue.

Figures were not available for July and August, but officials from the RMS Foundation Inc., which operates the ship, said the landmark is earning a profit this summer, the period that traditionally brings in the most visitors.

RMS, a nonprofit group, has reported losses of nearly $5.7 million since taking over the ship after the former operators, the Walt Disney Co., left in 1992. The total loss for the first half of 1994 was $1.6 million.

Joseph F. Prevratil, who heads the foundation, said he is optimistic about the coming months because advance bookings for the ship’s hotel and banquet rooms have reached $3.6 million. The ship had no advance bookings when RMS took over, Prevratil said.

During the second quarter of 1994, RMS paid $136,053 to Long Beach in rent and $63,000 in bed taxes.