New Silk Road Culture, which operates a casino business inside a hotel on South Korea's Jeju Island, reported a loss of about HK$92 million (about 11.8 million) in 2020, compared with HK$80.4 million (about 11.8 million) a year earlier.

The company blamed a shortage of tourists and temporary facility closures due to COVID-19 measures as reasons for the weak performance.

Revenue for the reporting period fell 44.3% to HK$117.6 million from HK$211.2 million in 2019.

The group runs a mega-luck casino business (pictured) at a Jeju KAL hotel and distributes wine and the Chinese liquor Baiju. The segment's annual revenue in 2020 was HK$391,000, down 99.5% from HK$826,000 a year earlier.

New Silk Road told the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Monday that its 2020 earnings were negatively impacted by the "severe impact" of the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in a "significant decline in entertainment revenue."

"Most of the entertainment venues have been temporarily suspended in the past year to respond to the local [Jeju] government's epidemic prevention measures," he added

In its latest annual report, New Silk Road said it had received "approval" from local authorities for its planned hotel project on Jeju, known as Glory Hill. However, the development was "delayed due to project financing difficulties," it said.

In 2017, new silk road announced the acquisition of a company called macrolink glory hills, Inc., as it funneled funds to develop a large resort complex on glory hills, including "large casinos".

In a filing Monday, New Silk Road said the country's business outlook is "very difficult without controlling the pandemic this year."