The island of Murter will have to wait at least a further three years for its first luxury hotel complex to be built in the Municipality of Tisno. The project's investor is Russian Aleksej Frolov.

As Novac/Dora Koretic writes on the 12th of November, 2019, back at the end of October, an investor, Aqua Relaxio, asked the Municipality of Tisno to extend its planned construction start date by three years, which, by a contract signed with Tisno back in 2014, had been defined by the end of 2019.

By that date (according to the contract) Aqua Relaxio was to start realising its 95 million euro luxury five-star luxury hotel in the Prisliga-Jazine area, where Frolov's company had purchased a land worth 30 million kuna from the Municipality of Tisno.

Their official request, which was publicly announced on the local self-government unit's website, explains that the inability to start construction from the contract was due, among other things, to the delayed process of conceptual design of the complex. The conceptual design was originally designed by an architect from nearby Šibenik, Nikola Bašić, but the investor later decided to choose architect Boris Podrecca, a Slovene-Italian architect, after Bašić apparently "could not make the necessary and required adjustments" to the design.

Therefore, Podrecca's design solution turned out to be a better concept for the investor, but, as was clarified later on in the explanation provided, its cost exceeded the budget of around 30 million euros, which is why the investor ordered a revision of the concept.

"As all of the above required additional time and because of the impossibility of obtaining concessions at the planned maritime domain intervention, as well as the impossibility of defining a concession area with the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, we were unable to obtain the relevant building permits for the request," the company's statement explained, but its director, Anastasia Petričević, didn't want to comment on it officially.

The Municipality of Tisno's Ivan Klarin has more or less confirmed the above statement, claiming that the deadline for the beginning of construction has been extended and because changes to the urban plan have to be done.

''The extension of the deadline was approved because of the illogical request that the bypass, which is to be built by the Municipality of Tisno, be included in the urban plan of the project, which has never been a practice because it's unclear why something built by a local government unit would enter the UPU of a private project. However, the municipality will comply with this request, we'll initiate a new modification of the UPU under a shortened procedure, but it will take us five to six months,'' Klarin said.

The request that pushed back the deadlines for the hotel's construction came from Šibenik-Knin County, which is run by HDZ, which of course has caused people in some circles to suspect that the extension of the deadling for the implementation of the construction of the first luxury hotel on the island is actually due to politics, because the Tisno Municipality is run by SDP.

Either way, it is more than likely that the project will not be completed in 2020 as was initially planned.

The conceptual design was presented to the councilors in Tisno back in June 2018 when the construction of a complex which will boast 80 rooms, 50 apartments and 25 luxury villas was announced. The project also included the construction of a harbour with 25 berths, and in addition to tourist facilities, the complex should also offer its guests health services such as detoxification, weight management programs and anti-stress programs.

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The Garden Resort in Tisno recently started another summer season full of festival activities, in which they hope to attract over 20,000 visitors!

It started as one festival, but it grew over the years and in 2019 there will be 6 international festival events during July and August. The bay with a perfect beach is one of the most amazing festival stages in Europe, and it attracts visitors from all over the world to their more intimate musical events. Nick Colgan, the owner of the destination and the Garden Resort brand says that 2019 will be their best season yet, in terms of the number of visitors, and that they've secured the contract for the next 3 years, which means that their events will be held at the same place at least until 2022. Their concept of a vacation with the musical background attracts visitors from over 40 countries, and Love International is a perfect addition to their concept. The Garden Resort and the event held there during the summer are crucial for the tourism of Tisno and the area, as people from all over the world know about Tisno as the location where Garden Resort is located, Ivan Klarin, municipal head adds. In 2019, they added another festival, Fuliranje (which is well-known to anyone who's recently visited Advent in Zagreb).

The festival season in Tisno has begun with Love International Festival, organized for the fourth year by Dave Harvey and Tom Paine, which closes tomorrow. Many of the DJs that perform at the festival stay a bit longer, make a vacation out of it, because they enjoy Tisno so much.

After Love International, Hospitality On The Beach drum'n'bass festival is next, starting on July 11th, and after that the famous and long-lasting SunceBeat festival starts on July 24, celebrating their tenth anniversary in Croatia. In early August Fuliranje na Moru (Seaside Fuliranje) starts, August 8th is the first day of Defected Croatia house festival. The final festival of the season is Dekmantel Selectors, starting on August 22nd.

The list of the performers for these festivals is long, and here are just some of them: Peggy Gou, DJ Harvey, Optimo, Jan Kinčl & Regis Kattie, Adriatic Coasting Team from Garden, Andy C, Noisia, High Contrast David Morales, Gilles Peterson, Jayda G, Armand Van Helden, Denis Ferrer, Roger Sanchez, Ben UFO, DJ Marcelle, Objekt, Darko Rundek & Ekipa, Urban & 4, Goran Bare with Majke, Parni Valjak, Vojko V.

Nick Colgan added that they're constantly improving the venue, that they have new mobile homes in The Garden Resort, glamping capabilities in the camp, hostel etc, and that currently over 600 people can be accommodated at the location of the festival, while the others are located in Tisno and the surrounding area. This year they're working even harder than ever at preserving the nature of the location, as they've procured the biodegradable cups and utensils, and are working with beer can vendor on the project "Each Can Counts", trying to teach people of the importance of recycling. Their goal is to completely remove any plastic from the location.

The Guardian once put Tisno on their list of top ten best European festival locations, and the people working on the Garden Resort experience are doing their best to keep it that way! Find out more information about the festivals here.

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