RETROSPECTIVE 2013 - Investments in TOURISM, ENTERTAINMENT and RECREATION that attracted greatest attention of ekapija users
The eKapija investment team has recently done an analysis and formed a rank list of investments and investment ideas that attracted the greatest attention of eKapija users in 2013. The results are very interesting, some are expected, but there is a plenty of surprises, which is why we have decided to share this information with you.
We present you the most interesting projects in the category of TOURISM, ENTERTAINMENT and RECREATION
We wondered both last year and this year whether Belgrade has clients for new hotels whose number is on big increase. Investors claim accommodation capacities in Serbian capital are low and potential of tourist and business destinations big. If they fulfill their promise and implement their plans, hotel industry should this year hire 5000 new workers.
A total of 250 workers started their employment with Belgrade-based Crowne plaza. The first hotel of the famous hotel chain opened at the location of popular Continetal, started operating late last year and the officiall opening is scheduled for tonight. 50 local companies took part in the reconstruction and Delta holding poured EUR 40 mil into Belgrade’s new tourist joker. The hotel is a part of InterContinental Hotels Group and guests are provided 416 rooms, 100 "club" rooms, 31 suites, 12 meeting rooms, two restaurants, lobby bars, confectionary. Visitors can also use fitness and a spa center as well as the biggest swimming pool in Serbia. A total of 30.000 of booked overnight stays in 2014 also show great interest in Crown Plaza in Belgrade. It is then not surprising that this hotel opens our year’s list.
The construction of another world hotel chain in Belgrade which we have been waiting for will follow. The beginning of the works on Belgrade-based Marriott has been delayed a couple of times because of the construction permit. It finally reached Vasina Street in December last year so the construction should start by the end of this months. If everything goes as planned, a new hotel near the National Theatre should be finished by early 2015. The investment value was estimated at some EUR 25 mil. Marriot company will manage the facility in line with their brand standards, Courtyard by Marriott and based on a long-term contract on hotel management which PFB Properties signed with that corporation.
The third ranked on this year’s list is the future hotel in Belgrade. This time it is Radisson blue. Between Mostarska petlja and BIGZ building, former Belgrade-based Old mill will change. Near the old building, a business tower with 10 floors was constructed and the opening of a three-star hotel is expected in the fall.
Paradise at Zvornik Lake ranks the fourth. Namely, for the first time both in Serbia and in the Balkans, a municipality could get a floating hotel. The project at the coast of Zvornik Lake which originated at the Salt & Water design studio would be the biggest investment in Mali Zvornik after the hydro power plant construction. The preliminary design and a location, as municipality representatives say, are ready and, as it usually happens, they are waiting only for an investor.
In line with the custom, when it comes to tourism, our ranking list cannot leave out aqua parks for a couple of years now. This year, fun on water in Novi Sad attracted the greatest interest. The construction of Aqua center with aqua park, a wellness and spa center in Novosadski sajam which would have an ethno village and a summer stage should start, as announced, in the spring this year. The aqua park is planned to be a part of the program of expansion and development of activities within the Novi Sad-based institution to other fields, apart from fairs and exhibitions. The first estimates show that the capacity of the future Aqua center will range 150.000 and 200.000 visitors per season.
The sixth ranked are investments in tourist potential in Stara planina. Except from the fact that a host, Austrian Falkensteiner announced the construction of six new condotels (hotels of suite type, with 350 accommodation units and a total of 1000 beds) at Jabucko ranivste where EUR 30 mil will be invested, two local investors are soon coming to Stara planina. One of them, as eKapoja reported, will invest some EUR 700.000 in multi-family houses while the other one will also build a condotel (a hotel with suites), totaling a million euros.
(Kraljevgrad)
The seventh ranked is a replica of medieval city of Kraljevgrad , near Maglic. In the complex where trading would be done in coins with the image of King Radoslav, a museum, a church, a hotel, restaurants, a spa and wellness center and conference halls would be built. Preliminary design was developed and the project was estimated at some EUR 40 mil. The city administration says they are ready and all funding options, from investing private capital to public-private partnership.
For a moment, the list again takes us back to Belgrade for a hotel again. The eighth ranked is design hotel Nobel inspired by the works of Ivo Andric, and it is followed by the story of aqua park in Vrnjacka banja.
Since the entire last year in Serbia was featured by Arabian investors, tourism also felt capital from the east. The Republic Directorate for property bought the Jugobanka’s hotel in Kopaonik for EUR 2 mil and sold it to UAE-based Kopaonik Property Investment" for EUR 1, 5 mil. At the most attractive part of Kopaonik, former Jugobanka’s hotel was removed and a new tourist facility should be built at the location.
After that, Jump Inn hotel in Belgrade , the first wellness center in Soko banja, the project of modernization of Rusanda spa and a spa in Obrenovac, and the hotel of Novak Djokovic at Mount Kopaonik follow. Next listed are the first Mona’s hotel in Belgrade, Zlatni grad, for health and sports-recreation tourism on Zlatibor and construction of the longest panorama gondola in the world, a tourist-recreation center Palancki kiseljak and the opening of renovated Roman amphitheatre in Viminacijum. .
One more thing - have you already read which projects attracted your greatest attention in categories ENERGY, HEALTH CARE, SHOPPING CENTERS, AGRICULTURE AND FOOD INDUSTRY, TELECOMMUNICATIONS and IT, TRANSPORTATION, REAL ESTATE?