August 11, 2022 – Planned tourism is only starting to take shape in Croatia, and foreign investment, it seems, plays a significant role. One of such projects found its home under the Adriatic sun on the island of Ugljan, near Zadar, where Adriatic Tourist Resorts will undertake a revitalisation of the Zelena Punta resort.

As Poslovni reports, after almost four years that it took to complete the process of taking over the Resort Zelena Punta in Kukljica on the island of Ugljan from the bankrupt Coning, Adriatic Tourist Resorts (ATR) finally embarked on an ambitious investment in the largest tourist resort on Ugljan.

An investment in the complex worth at least €40 million will raise Zelena Punta to 4 stars, but also the entire destination, which has been stagnant for years, and the plan is to build capacities for a total of 780 beds in different objects, with additional facilities and the complete infrastructure.

The first major works will start after this season, Poslovni learned from Dino Manestar, director of Adriatic Tourist Resorts and Premium Star Hotels (PSH), owned by Prime Tourist Resorts from Bratislava.

“With the implementation of this project, we intend to put Ugljan, Kukljica, and Zelena Punta on the map of the world's best destinations. In June, we submitted an initiative to the Municipality of Kukljica to amend the spatial planning documentation, which was preceded by a presentation to the Municipality and interested persons.

After we received the full support of the local administration and residents for the implementation of the Master Plan for the development of Zelena Punta, we are now expecting changes to the spatial plan to obtain permits and start investing in new facilities. The investment will happen in stages, and we think that everything will be finished by the end of 2025, which also depends on numerous circumstances in the market", Dino Manestar confirmed.

From the initiation of Coning's bankruptcy until the takeover, Zelena Punta was open to guests every season, but the village, which has a long-standing tradition, has been neglected, with unused accommodation capacities, unkempt sports fields, and dilapidated infrastructure. The resort extends over the entire peninsula separated from the old core of the island, in a dense pine forest. Manestar claims that this natural heritage will be preserved as much as possible in the future project because the goal is to “make Zelena Punta green again”.

The design for the new Zelena Punta is signed by Slovak architects from the design company GFI in cooperation with the Croatian company I2D. The design was thought out in such a way as to preserve as many pines as possible, which will be an important element of the settlement. “We will only remove diseased trees and what is necessary for fire protection. We intend to fit all units into the natural environment as much as possible, with the use of natural materials in the interior design”, says Manestar.

Planika is an example

The only buildings that will not be demolished will be those where the apartments are located – the Master Plan envisages a thorough renovation of the existing 138 apartments, the number of which will be slightly reduced because some will be joined, but most of them will remain in the current floor plan. That process has already started, the Planika building has been renovated, and serves as an example of the future project.

Renovation of four other buildings with 40 apartments is underway, and investors are announcing the continuation of further investments in apartment buildings right after this tourist season. All apartments should be ready by 2024.

All 80 bungalows that last served as staff accommodation, but were completely dilapidated, will be demolished, and 52 new bungalows, mostly with two accommodation units, will be built in their place. The plan is to start construction at the end of 2023.

The most luxurious will buildings include the villas to be built on the top of the peninsula. These 12 buildings will have private swimming pools, with a total area of ​​7,000 square meters. Finally, more accommodation capacity will be provided in a 4-star hotel with around 60 rooms (120 beds), which should be ready by 2025 according to current plans.

Possible beach concession

By the end of this year, the construction of a new beach club with a swimming pool on the site of the former Kokos disco, as well as sports fields and other recreational facilities, is expected to begin. Last year, the Skakaona beach restaurant was renovated. A change of the entire infrastructure is planned, including a new substation, as well as new installations.

As the settlement will be without traffic, a large parking lot will be built next to the reception. As for the beach, we are waiting for the cadastral survey and mapping of the maritime property, and the idea is to apply for a concession on the beach.

As Poslovni learned from Dino Manestar, since the Slovak private investment fund Across is behind the entire investment, ATR and PSH have developed a management model according to which private investors will be able to invest in apartments, partly through issued bonds and partly through acquisition of ownership, and PSH will manage the complete facilities including accommodation facilities.

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February the 21st, 2022 - Despite the devastating effects of the global coronavirus pandemic on leisure, travel and tourism, we've managed to avoid a mass sale of hotels. The Croatian villa market is also blossoming.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes, the popular Croatian online buying and selling portal, Njuskalo, has some interesting statistics for us. They show that the number of active accommodation ads across the country increased by 20% from 2019 to the end of 2021, with a total of 12,015 active ads published last year.

Although in these two years there has been a slight increase in sales of property in which accommodation facilities operate, it seems that the coronavirus pandemic crisis in tourism in Croatia hasn't actually caused a significant wave of sales of hotels, boarding houses or hostels. It has had quite a surprising effect on the aforementioned Croatian villa market, as well.

In addition to the above, there are indications that the property market in this segment has well and truly recovered, especially compared to the first pandemic year of 2020, judging by the asking prices of buildings that grew everywhere except down in the infamously expensive Dubrovnik, according to Njuskalo.

The relatively fast recovery of the country's tourism, which stimulated the optimism of investors, is evidenced by the data of the consulting company Colliers, which presented this in their new review of the commercial real estate market in Croatia for the year 2021.

Colliers' analysis shows that last year as many as 39 percent of all transactions related to commercial real estate on the Croatian market were conducted in the hotel sector, after a relatively low share of 22 percent one year earlier, when the retail sector had absolute primacy in transactions.

The biggest transaction in tourism last year was the acquisition of Sunce Hoteli, a company formerly owned by Dalmatian businessman Jako Andabak, and which was taken over by the development company Eagle Hills, announcing in December an investment of 44.2 million euros in the already impressive Bluesun hotel portfolio.

While investors from Central and Eastern Europe were active investors in the retail sector, domestic institutional investors, pension funds and insurance companies remain important investors in the hotel sector. Together with Valamar, PBZ CO and AZ pension funds are embarking on a new investment cycle in Valamar's hotels on Hvar, Makarska and Rab.

Njuskalo's statistics show that the number of accommodation facilities that were for sale in the first month and a half of this year (6735) is 30 percent higher compared to the same period in pre-pandemic 2019, but the number of ads at the beginning of this year is lower than it was last year.

The fact that the pandemic didn't encourage the sale of hotels is shown by the distribution of these ads by segments, where it can be seen that from 2019 until today, the most which have been sold lie in the Croatian villa market, with a share ranging between 88 and 90 percent.

Hotel sales ads make up only 7 percent, and in 2019 they stood at 8 percent. The number of currently active ads on February the 15th this year was 4476, once again dominated by the Croatian villa market, followed by hotels and the lowest percentage being taken up by boarding houses and hostels. In addition, most hotels, boarding houses, hostels and villas are located on the coast, and about five percent are located in the City of Zagreb.

The highest number of advertisements relate to property located on the coast in Istria County, with the highest sales in Porec, Medulin, Umag and Labin. It is followed by Kvarner, then Zadar County with an 8 percent share. Only two percent of Njuskalo's ads over the previous three years were located down in the Dubrovnik region. In Primorje-Gorski Kotar, most of them are in Crikvenica (18 percent), followed by Opatija and Krk. The largest share of hotels in the number of ads is in Zadar County, standing at 12 percent, while in Istria, the Croatian villa ads dominate.

For more, check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, Oct 7, 2020 - Croatian hoteliers expect this year's revenues to drop 25-75% due to the COVID pandemic and half believe recovery will take two or more years, with holiday tourism expected to recover faster and convention tourism much slower, a director in the Horwath HTL consulting company says.

Such findings come from the company's analysis of the so-called COVID year in which the pandemic has affected every industry around the world, notably tourism.

Sinisa Topalovic says the forecasts for 2021 and the growth of the global GDP are somewhat encouraging, but that recovery by country will depend and be faster if they are industrially strong, while being harder and slower in those focused on services such as Croatia.

Global and country forecasts say consumption is expected to recover in 12 to 24 months, which is a very long time, notably in tourism, which has been globally affected by the pandemic, from air travel to the hotel industry, which are recording drops in revenues from 60% to 80%, and they will not recover soon, says Topalovic.

Croatia at EU's bottom in hotel occupancy but near the top in prices

In such circumstances, Croatia managed to generate above-average results when compared with the competition in the first eight months of the year, about 40% of last year's turnover, but next year could be at least 10 to 20 percentage points better, also thanks to this year's experience, according to a Horwath HTL analysis.

Croatia's average hotel occupancy rate in the first eight months of this year was 24%, ranking it at the bottom of the EU, but in terms of prices it ranks relatively high because during the short summer holiday season Croatian hoteliers managed to keep relatively good prices, which is good given that after being lowered due to the 2008-09 crisis, they took a long time to recover, says Topalovic.

Three markets saved the season

The analysis shows that only three markets, of the more than 70 from which tourists came to Croatia in the past, saved this year's season, generating up to 60% of the total turnover - Germany, Croatia, and Slovenia.

Croatian tourists "gave life to numerous destinations" and their arrivals and overnights registered the smallest decreases from the record year 2019, the analysis says.

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As Novac/Barbara Ban writes on the 1st of June, 2020, as of yesterday, hotels have been opened in the popular NP Brijuni on the island of Veliki Brijun. The method of the hotels' operation is being carried out according to the instructions of the Croatian Government, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Energy and the National Civil Protection Headquarters, they state from that national park.

''On the occasion of the opening up of the hotels, a June promotional campaign is underway with cheaper accommodation prices. From June the 1st, 2020, the Veli Brijun passenger ship will sail to the island again all day according to the sailing schedule. An organised trip to Veliki Brijun with the guidance of an expert guide lasts four hours. The excursion programme includes transport by boat from Fazana (Istrian mainland), an hour of touring the island on an open tourist train, visits to various places of interest, (a visit to the Museum and the church is possible from Tuesday to Sunday) and the Brijuni Mediterranean Garden.

In the period from June the 1st to June the 15th, on weekdays, the regular ticket price includes two hours of bicycle use. Additionally, during the weekend, on June the 6th and 7th, and June the 13th and 14th, it will be possible to rent an electric car at promotional prices. Visitors can also visit the House for Boats centre. A golf course and some catering and hospitality facilities have also been opened on Veliki Brijun and wearing face masks indoors has been recommended, according to a statement from NP Brijuni.

In addition to guides, from this year on, independent tours of the island of Veliki Brijun are possible with the offer of additional content for visitors and more information on that can be found on the new mobile application, Brijuni Pocket Guide. In addition to the interesting features offered by NP Brijuni, the aforementioned application also showcases photo galleries and GPS location markers. The tour of Veliki Brijun has also been drastically improved by markings with numbers and QR codes of individual points placed on the island at all locations covered by the application.

The Brijuni Pocket Guide app can be downloaded on both Android and iPhone devices ans visitors are advised to download the app before arriving on the island to get acquainted with what it has to offer in advance. The application can be downloaded with content in Croatian, English, German, Italian, French, Spanish and Russian. Tickets for NP Brijuni can be purchased online and it isn't necessary to print the tickets after their purchase, it is enough to show the digital ticket on the mobile device when boarding the ship. 

If you want to buy tickets at the NP Brijuni branch in Fazana, prior reservation is required.

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August 20, 2019 - Hotels in Dalmatia achieve the best results after experts analyze the success of hotels in Croatia for Slobodna Dalmacija. 

“Hoteliers did well in the first half of the year according to all available data, and according to the announcements, this trend continues in July and August. I think 2019 will be a very good business year for hoteliers in terms of revenue, and those with 4 and 5 stars did better in the first six months of this year than last year.

The specificity of this peak season is that it is asymmetrical, it has shifted in 15 days in terms of time, business and traffic for a lot of reasons, but it will not significantly affect the operation of hotels. There is a trend that 4 and 5-star hotels are doing fantastic, and those who are worse off and have not seen an investment are operating in a market that is looking for lower prices, so their financial results are significantly worse. Because you cannot get a customer with higher-spending power if you have poor quality,” says professor Zdenko Cerović, a Ph.D. from the Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management in Opatija, who co-authored the Benchmarking (Business Analysis) study of the Croatian hotel industry until the beginning of July this year.

Together with him, hotel operations in the first part of this year were also analyzed by Dr. Sandra Janković and Sonja Hvaliček.

The material analyzes the operations of 114 Croatian hotels from all coastal regions and the continental part of the country, with a total of 23,500 rooms, which is more than 40 percent of the total hotel capacity in Croatia. Data on occupancy, prices, revenues and earnings were found for 25 hotels in Istria, 26 in Kvarner, 46 in four Dalmatian counties and 17 continental hotels. Key revenue management indicators by region say that in June alone, as in the first six months of this year, hotels in Dalmatia are doing the best. 

In June, they achieved an average price of 139 euro per room, which is 15 euro more than hotels in Istria and almost 40 euro more than hotels in Kvarner. Also, the total income per night in hotels is the highest in Dalmatia - in June, it was 103 euro per night, which is 16 euro more than the average of Croatia. In the same month, the income in Istrian hotels per night was 80 euro, while in Kvarner 77 euro, according to the data. 

“Such financial results are completely logical given that Dalmatia has a long season and good prices in hotels, and a great deal has been invested in hotels in Zadar, Šibenik, the Split region, the Makarska Riviera, and the islands to Dubrovnik. Dalmatia has made a step up in the quality of its hotel offer in a number of hotel houses, followed by good prices, the growing season, and good income. Since April, the monthly accommodation revenue per available hotel room in Dalmatia has been the highest in the country due to the highest average room rates,” explains Cerović of this year's hotel business in Croatia.

Asked if the revenue of hotels would be affected by the fact that part of their capacity was put into "last-minute" sales at lower prices due to slow sales, Cerović replied that this would not affect the hotel’s income because it didn’t happen often enough to affect their earnings.

“Although the story of the need to invest in quality in our tourism is already known, all the way to birds on branches, nevertheless, the exact data best confirm how significant the value for money is in revenue. Specifically, revenue management indicators by the category of the hotel in the survey show that total revenue per night is by far the highest in 5-star hotels, reaching 154.20 euro per night in June. At the level of all six months, it is 114 euro per night, and for comparison, the revenue per night in 4-star hotels in June was 80 euro, while in 3-star hotels it was 49.5 euro. And the average room price also depended on the category of accommodation, so in June, 5-star hotels sold for 206 euro on average, 4-star hotels had an average price of 103 euro, and 3-star hotels in June had an average price of 67.4 euro. 

This does not mean, of course, that Croatia should have only the highest category hotels, but the 3-star hotels must be modernly decorated, equipped and renovated, and thus can achieve better prices and higher revenues in its category, experts say. Guests want to know that they have not overpaid, and everyone goes into a financially monitored category and looks for the best service for that category. Nobody can say today ‘it doesn't matter what kind of hotel I am, I will always have guests’, because that is no longer the case, as the financial results of investing in hotels and resting on laurels show best. "

To read more about travel in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

EU funds have opened up a wide variety of doors for Croatia, quite literally. As more and more EU funding is accessed, more former Croatian ''glory'' buildings, including old castles and palaces, are having new life breathed into them.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes on the 28th of May, 2019, in July in Suhopolje near Virovitica, a visitor's centre will be opened up at Janković castle, marking the creation of a brand new attraction for Virovitica-Podravina County, in which a total of 39.7 million kuna will be invested, of which 33.4 million kuna is being funded from European Union fund for Regional Development, permitted under the Preparation and implementation of Integrated Development Programs based on the Reconstruction of Cultural Heritage.

This is just one of the projects which directly involves the revitalisation of a series of castles, noble and ex-military buildings in the aforementioned county, and putting them into the function of tourism within the so-called. Plemićka ruta. At the moment, there are projects in their various phases of implementation or completion of a total value of up to 276 million kuna, as was revealed yesterday at the project's presentation in Zagreb by Josip Mikolčić, assistant director of the VPŽ (Virovitica-Podravina) Tourist Board. Last year, 16,033 tourists visited this continental Croatian county, achieving an impressive 40,276 overnight stays.

"Participating in EU projects is a great opportunity to rebuild many of the neglected facilities that we'll then put into the function of tourism. The county still has a bit of hotel accommodation, which we need to modify so that we can make a significant income from tourism," Mikolčić explained.

Namely, as EU funds can't provide non-refundable money for the construction of hotels, a solution has been found by the Croatian county in question to create presentation centre projects that later be turned into hotels. In addition to the multimedia exhibition hall, 5D cinema and creative lab, Janković will also have fifteen guest rooms, which will initially be registered as rooms for rent, and after five years have passed, another fifteen rooms will be added and the facility will be registered as a heritage hotel, at least that's what the current plan is.

Then, Virovitica-Podravina County will be able to sell that hotel to a private investor, as well as all of its other facilities.

As it is already known, an informative-educational centre and a hostel in a restored summer residence from the nineteenth century have been on the market for about two years now. The Heritage Hotel Kurija Janković is on the Plemićka ruta, and the opening of a museum in the renovated Pejačević Castle is expected this October.

The renovated Ružica grad from the fifteenth century will be receive its first guests within the next 1.5 years, while on the island of Križnica on the border with Hungary, former military facilities will be turned into a camp and a visitor's centre.

Make sure to follow our dedicated lifestyle page for much more.

Click here for the original article by Marija Crnjak for Poslovni Dnevnik

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 24th of May, 2019, a protected three-storey building in the Dalmatian town of Omiš, which operated for 97 years as a factory and was constructed back during Austro-Hungarian rule will be redesigned into no less than a hotel in the next two years.

''The Croatian brand of pasta "Cetina" will remain, we've preserved it, as well as all of the jobs from the pasta factory. Twenty-two workers were taken care of, we've all sorted everyting out,'' Ivica Babić, the owner of the bakery and the sales chain "Babić" stated clearly after being requested to shed light on the situation by Slobodna Dalmacija. As of June the 1st, the former pasta factory in Omiš will end its work, after 97 long years.

Namely, the building on the eastern outskirts of Omiš, located at the mouth of Cetina, next to the town's harbour, will be converted into a hotel and thus end the work of the old factor that was otherwise in operation for almost 100 years.

''Nobody's getting put out of work, there are no dismissals. We've made sure to give jobs to all of our workers according to their respective capabilities, someone will be a driver, another will be a salesman... We've had two requests for severance pay, which we have taken care of properly,'' Babić stated when discussing the fate of employees who worked in the factory, which was sold to Krunoslav Šarić two years ago, but the well-known and popular Dalmatian "manistra" continued to be producted, and it will continue to do so, until the very beginning of next month.

''With our strategic partnership we've ensured that the brand will remain, but now production will be relocated to Čakovec. It was necessary to optimise the production of pasta, and because the "Cetina" building in Omiš was dilapidated, it was necessary to invest large amounts of money in its reconstruction or move the factory from the city centre to a more suitable place for production,'' revealed the boss of the Babić chain, expressing his satisfaction with the fact that they have been able to successfully preserve the brand "Cetina", as well as provide new jobs for the factory's former workers.

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The tourist season is just around the corner, and with the employment paradox of there being too many jobs but not enough workers, yet there being too many works and not enough jobs continuing in Croatia, some traditional seasonal employers are staying one step ahead when it comes to their level of care for their seasonal staff, at least in Novigrad.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 23rd of May, 2019, the Aminess tourist company has started building a hotel solely for its employees in Novigrad, Istria. The new hotel for the company's staff, along with all of the necessary prerequisites for participating on the commercial market, will be ready for the 2020 summer season.

The location of the new employee hotel in Novigrad extends up to 2,500 square metres is just ten minutes from the farthest Aminess tourist facility, the closest location at which said staff are likely to be working during the tourist season.

They will have a reception desk, a common kitchen with a dining area, a parking area and a closed bicycle storage room. The new Novigrad hotel's rooms will mostly be double with private bathrooms and with French balconies or terraces, modern furnishings and TV, as well as a heating and cooling system. In addition to the hotel's free Wi-Fi access, employees will also be able to enjoy a shared lounge area, and specially equipped rooms for the washing, drying and ironing of clothes.

"Happy and satisfied employees are key to the company's success. Therefore, with the benefits we offer, we have decided to build a hotel for our employees in order to make them feel comfortable. This will enable all employees coming from other regions to have even better quality accommodation with numerous benefits on offer to them,'' stated Sanja Žužić, Aminess' Human Resource Manager.

Make sure to stay up to date by following our dedicated lifestyle and business pages for much more.

As Lucija Spiljak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 21st of May, 2019, the Zagreb software company Ingemark and the RoomOrders startup, launched by Croats despite having been registered in America, created the first application (app) for ordering food from hotels to hotel rooms and started to conquer the many challenges of the huge global market. They began with the development of this application at the end of 2017, and back then, as a pilot project, they first tested it out at the Hilton Hotel in Boston.

According to them, they will launch RoomOrders at the Hilton Sydney hotel, and then in Belgrade's Hilton in Serbia by the end of the month. The application's software, in which 2 million euro has so far been invested was started by the Zagreb-based company Ingemark, which has been in existence since as far back as 1990, and as of 2006, it has specialised in software development by order.

Funds for the application's development have also been withdrawn from EU funds. In the list of references are big clients such as Agrokor, Adris, HT... One of the most significant cooperations was, as they say, one in the Middle East where clients developed a platform that distributed multimedia content, and soon their latest project, ZorroTines, a regional music platform, will see the light of day right here on the Croatian market. Right now, it seems that this Zagreb company's RoomOrders app is going to go very far indeed.

As Eugene Brčić Jones, the marketing and sales manager at RoomOrders revealed, last week at the International Hotel Technology Forum in Zagreb, the company negotiated with numerous hotel industry leaders about integrating their products.

"We've intrigued the leading world chains and deepened the existing relationships, about which we're certain will bring us to the position of ''disrupter'' of the in-room dining segment within the hotel industry," Brčić Jones said, adding that he believes that in several years, it will be present in a number of world hotels which boast 4 and 5 stars.

"With the help of the RoomOrders application, guests in hotels can order food to their rooms in a few clicks and not in the ''old fashioned'' way. In addition to it having a faster mode, hotels can embark on this project without any large investments," explained Ingemark's director Jurica Mikulić, adding that the application has managed to receive some excellent initial customer reviews and financial results for the hotel. Hilton in Boston has increased its average order value by as much as thirty percent.

''We offer a simple solution that not only increases revenue, but promotes hotels through user-generated content and facilitates analytics. The greatest benefit is that this solution can be implemented without disturbances to the processes involved, and it provides almost instantaneous results,'' Brčić Jones added.

The author of the application, Haris Dizdarević, explained that the creation of RoomOrders was triggered by the current rather obsolete ways of ordering and the obvious need for faster selection and the changing of the menu that guests want in the room.

"We realised we should digitise the offer and thus expand it. The simple idea has become a complex but a successful project," said Dizdarević, explaining that the positive signal was the fact that hotel guests continue to use the application after the first time of using it, and for several days in a row. Although they acknowledge that the Croatian market is not really a priority, they're still negotiating with several Croatian hotels in Dubrovnik and with Maistra, Blue Lagoon (Plava Laguna) and Liburna, and that soon, the application will be launched in Sheraton, part of the huge global Marriott hotel chain.

Otherwise, RoomOrders was introduced DoubleTree by Hilton in Zagreb a few months ago, but then it was a modified version of the app.

"With the new application or system, the guest can, as soon as he is given the room after booking, in advance, even when travelling, immediately choose a range of dishes and orders so that it's ready and waiting in the room upon their arrival. The guest doesn't need to order it from the hotel room, they can do it in advance and choose from a simple and flexible application where all the photos, descriptions and the prices of the food and drinks in the hotel's offer are,'' they explain from hotel Sheraton where this new type of offer and service will be on offer by the end of May, which will, as they say, bring about improvements.

"The application also enables sharing of guest experience on the platform, real-time appraisal of food and services so that the hotel can almost react at the same time to all guests' comments and adapt to the current wishes and preferences of the guest," they added from Sheraton.

"We're sure that at some point there will be some competitors in this segment on the market, but we believe that we're strong and already ahead of them all. We're focusing on the development of this product which we want to make perfect. Along with marketing, the analytic component is the most important, to be more concrete, the analysis of the reactions, comments and the number of orders, so, the entire internal process. We hope to conclude this year with good results and continue to expand successfully,'' Brčić Jones concluded.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business and Made in Croatia pages for much more.

Click here for the original article by Lucija Spiljak for Poslovni Dnevnik

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 15th of May, 2019, the saga with the former Cavtat ''Macedonia'' hotel could well have a happy end, Večernji list reports.

The story dates back to the year 2013 when a group of investors announced that the currently abandoned and devastated site will the luxury Aman resort built there. Things were of course rather complicated, which isn't remotely unusual, and in the meantime the ownership structure of the investor's company has changed, but the key player, Greek entrepreneur Petros Stathis, didn't think for even one moment to walk away from the planned and desired Cavtat investment.

Passionate about business and temperamental like any real Greek, he is the owner of several Aman hotels and resorts groups, including Aman Sveti Stefan in neighbouring Montenegro and over in Venice. Business wise, he's mostly focused on the Balkan region. He is active in both banking and real estate world and was even the director of the famous Athenian Football Club AEK.

Unlike many before him, the industrious Petros Stathis refused to give up on Croatia, and at the end of last year, in Croatia's southernmost town in the extreme south of Dalmatia, he intensified his efforts to finally get the project of Cavtat's Aman resort off the ground. Otherwise, Aman is a chain of luxury hotels in 34 locations in as many as 21 countries, and the first resort under that name was opened back in 1988 in Phuket.

Such resorts usually have only fifty rooms, and each guest is matched by four employees on average. In an interview with Vecernji list, Petros Stathis revealed that things really are finally getting going, being ''raised from the dead'' as it were, and that such a resort in Croatia, more precisely in Cavtat, is no longer just fiction.

Soon, you're coming to Croatia, does this mean that the Aman project in Cavtat is definitely going ahead?

I can say with pleasure, that the short answer to your question is yes!

I'm thrilled to be able to say that we've made progress and we expect the machines to return to their location at the end of this year. Otherwise, it was never the case whether or not the Aman Cavtat project would be realised or not, but as I mentioned before, we had a complicated beginning and we had to overcome many obstacles.

It's great, of course, to return to Croatia, but this project, believe me, is more than me. This is also about Croatia and our partners and people from this community. Our focus has always been on the future and the realisation of the resort in Cavtat so that the country could further profit through the Aman project, just how other countries have benefited from it. Whenever we start these types of projects, we want to complete it according to the plan, but it's rare that all factors are in our full control.

A project of such magnitude requires coordination and cooperation. We made a huge effort and we were lucky that we had positive support from many sides. Soon it will be six years ago since the construction of the luxury Aman resort at the location of the former Macedonia hotel in Cavtat was first announced, the first machines even arrived at the construction site, but soon after that it all stopped.

What made everything slow down over the last few years?

It's no secret that this project has a complex history. Since taking ownership of the site, we have been working hard and working with all involved parties to resume construction.

Why is Croatia interesting for you to invest in and is it easier to invest in Montenegro, for example?

As an international company, we always look globally.

Each country has a different approach to investment and development. I personally love your beautiful country and its people. I have strong family ties in Croatia and I've spent many happy moments here. Croatia is a wonderful country, rich in history, with beautiful nature and positive people with a positive business attitude that reaches international business boundaries. But the potential offered by Cavtat is the most attractive part of this story.

This is a great opportunity for us and will have a major role in current investments in Croatia. Our goal for Croatia is the same as for any other country in which we've built and invested, which is to create the best we can and leave a lasting, positive legacy of which the country can be proud. The goal of this project is to build the most beautiful resort in Croatia, in keeping with the environment and local infrastructure.

This opportunity is huge and we hope to act as a catalyst for further internal development in Croatia, now and also in the future. It's incredible when you think that more foreign tourists visit Croatia than, for example, Australia. And this is almost double the annual level. Tourism makes up more than 12 percent of Croatian GDP, and this money goes to local wages, through the construction of hotels and other related projects.

This country has a talented, entrepreneurial workforce. Half of the population speak English, but Italian and German are also spoken. And just look at the innovations you're responsible for! Everything, from chemical pencils to parachutes, bulbs, MP3 code, all created by Croats. It's time for Croatia to become more significant on the world stage, and we want to play a key role in that story.

What is the value of the investment in Cavtat and when will the new hotel be completed?

This is a huge 50 million euro project that will build the best of the best in Cavtat. This is our approach to building every resort. To provide the best. We wouldn't even launch the project if we couldn't achieve the best possible. This isn't just a hotel. This is an investment in the development and the future of Cavtat, through which we'll support local development, jobs and employment. We'll start with the works at the end of this year, and later on we'll inform you about our opening plan.

How will the Aman resort in Cavtat look and what will it offer to its guests?

Personally, I can hardly wait to see how it will look once when it's done. This is a new level of design and unification with the landscape, and local, natural materials will be used. If you look at any other Aman resort we've built, including the ones in Montenegro in Sveti Stefan, you'll get a very good idea of ​​what Aman Cavtat will be like.

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