2016 RETROSPECTIVE – Investments in TOURISM, ENTERTAINMENT AND RECREATION which have caused the greatest interest among eKapija users

The investment team of eKapija has performed the analysis and formed the list of investments and investment ideas which caused the greatest interest among our users in 2016. The results are very interesting, some of them expected, though there are lots of surprises as well, which is why we've decided to share the information with you.

We present the most interesting projects in the TOURISM, ENTERTAINMENT AND RECREATION category.

The Government of Serbia adopted the Tourism Development Strategy for the 2016-2025 period in 2016, envisioning the employment of 40,000 new workers in this sector, revenues of USD 5 billion and attracting a larger number of foreign tourists. The strategy envisions, among other things, various measures of state support to the tourism sector, as well as an even development of 18 tourist areas, for which an action plan has been prepared, along with descriptions of attractions and products, as well as the tasks and support measures to be realized.

The envisioned even development of tourist destination throughout the country is also supported by the interest of investors in this area in 2016. One of the conclusions based on our list of investments and investment ideas in this area is, therefore, that the tourist year 2016 was not marked by Belgradization, even though 8 of the 20 investments which drew the biggest attention of our readers are located in the capital of Serbia. Among the investors are already familiar players, but also new ones, both local and foreign.

Judging by the list, Serbia is growing more attractive as a country to organize business gatherings in, and the construction and reconstruction of congress centers is the backbone of the development of this tourism branch. There were new events in Kopaonik, Zlatibor and Rtanj in 2016, whereas spas underperformed again. Perhaps the situation will change following the privatization.

Here's the list of investments in tourism, entertainment and recreation which have drawn the greatest attention of our readers in 2016.

(Hilton Hotel Belgrade) The large world hotel chain Hilton made a leap compared to the 2015 list, where it placed 4th, and is now in the leading position. Following the announcement that a hotel from this chain will be built on Belgrade's Slavija Square, on the corner of Kralja Milana and Kralja Milutina Streets, the foundation stone was laid down on April 17, 2016, and four months later, on August 26, the first slab was laid down as well. As eKapija wrote earlier, Belgrade's Hilton will spread on 32.418 m2, have 250 rooms and apartments, eight floors and an open-balcony restaurant on the roof. The construction of the luxury complex should be completed in 2018, and, as announced, EUR 70 million will be invested in the project.

The second place belongs to the construction of the pedestrian bridge and the gondola, which should link the Sava coastal area to Kalemegdan. The construction of the curvy bridge should have begun in June 2016, but it hasn't even begun so far, despite City Architect Milutin Folic's announcement that the footbridge would be completed before the end of 2016. The footbridge should connect the Belgrade Fortress and the coast of the Sava at Beton Hala. The New Belgrade's Sava port was also supposed to be linked to Kalemegdan with a gondola. Mayor Sinisa Mali announced the beginning of the works by the end of 2017, and the tender for the technical documentation will last until January 26. The rise of the gondola should be around 30-40 meters, the horizontal length of the route 1,000 meters, whereas the hourly capacity will be 3,000 people.

The third spot belongs to another project involving a gondola, the one in Zlatibor. The Gold Gondola, whose completion has been announced for this year, might bring us all the way to Tornik. Nevertheless, the unresolved ownership issues are hampering the construction of the gondola, whose capacity should be 600 passengers an hour, on the route nine kilometers long, and the exact dates, therefore, have not yet been defined. Gondola will move between the tourist center of Zlatibor to the Tornik peak, through the stop in close proximity to the Ribnica Lake. Thanks to this cable car, the tallest peak of Zlatibor might shine in its full glory, and skiers would be able to enjoy themselves away from the busy core of this tourist center. Although it might seem that this air spa has become too urbanized, there's still room for development of tourism. In order to define the capacities of the Tornik ski resort, the Municipality of Cajetina has prepared the urban documentation, envisioning the construction of new sports, recreation and hospitality facilities.

The special hospital Merkur in Vrnjacka Banja placed fourth. The hospital continues investing in health tourism, and the reconstruction of the Romanija mansion began in February 2016. As they said for eKapija, the new hospital is expected to be completed in the summer of 2017. In addition to the reconstruction of the Romanija mansion, a new 3,500 m2 facility is being built. It should have 75 beds and the possibility of extension by an additional 85, along with a medical unit, as well as a modern spa center with an outdoor and an indoor pool.

The fifth spot brings us back to Belgrade and into the waters of congress tourism. Delta Real Estate bought the Holiday Inn hotel and Belexpo Centar in New Belgrade in late October 2016. The company has announced the reconstruction of a part of the hotel, whereas Belexpo Centar is to be turned into a multifunctional facility, capable of accommodating various events.

Another Holiday Inn, the one in Novi Sad, might open for visitors in 2017. The sixth spot on our list is taken by the investment of MK Group in the purchase of the facility on the corner of Futog Road and Evropa Blvd in Novi Sad, meant for a high-category hotel. In addition to top quality accommodation, the guests will have at their disposal spa and wellness features on 800 square meters, a modern congress center, an international cuisine restaurant and other additional features, and the entire facility spreads on 11,000 square meters.

MK Group is also investing in congress tourism in Kopaonik, where a new wing of the Grand hotel has opened. The investment in this hotel placed seventh on our list. The new wing has 70 luxury apartments, an open pool, a congress center with the capacity of 600 visitors, whereas the largest multifunctional hall at the Grand hotel will be able to take in up to 1,500 participants.

Another component of the development of tourism in Serbia is the investment of the Arab businessman Ali Abdullah MS Al-Macki from Qatar. The purchase of four hotels in southern Serbia – Vilin Lug in Crna Trava, Srbija in Surdulica and Jezero and Promaja on the shores of Vlasina Lake, has earned this investment the eighth spot on our list. On the occasion of the signing of the agreement, it was announced that all hotels would be operational, and that the investor would invest money in sports tourism as well. The conceptual design of the new Trace Hotel on Vlasina Lake was prepared by the Blocco Group architectural design studio, and the hotel, amorphous in shape, will contain apartments, a restaurant, a congress hall, a parking lot... Sections of the roof will be made of glass.

We return to Vrnjacka Banja and Vinarija Grabak. This winery, located around 700 m away from the center of Vrnjacka Banja, offers quality wine, food and music, and it also features a pool and tennis courts. With its 2,400 vines of the Prokupac, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Tamjanika, Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling variety, the spirit of Tuscany in Vrnjacka Banja attracted the readers' interest and placed this winery ninth of the list of investments.

We move back to Kopaonik and the Grey hotel, which placed tenth on our list. The hotel opened in January 2016 and is located in the foot of the ski slope Karaman Greben. It has 17 rooms, a fitness and spa center, the Grey Gourmet restaurant with 120 seats and the Grey Vista balcony with 200 seats. The hotel is located in the spot of the former Dolly Bell and Novak coffee shops and is owned by the company also bearing the name of Dolly Bell. The company was founded by Zvonko Veselinovic and Ljiljana Bozovic, and this is its first investment in the hotel business in Serbia.

We move to Vojvodina next. Novi Sad's aquapark, whose construction has been announced for the past few years, placed 11th on our list. The project became current again in September 2016. During the latest changes to the business plans of Spens, the management of the City of Novi Sad decided to set aside the first RSD 6 million in 2017 for designing the aquapark. The same document says that the construction should start in 2018.

The development of congress tourism in Serbia would no doubt be helped by the reconstruction of Belgrade's Sava Centar. The plans for the largest congress center in the region are in the 12th spot on the list. During 2016, there was talk about Delta Holding, Nikola Tesla Airport, as well as Slovenia's GGE Esko, being interested in investing in it. Still in the race are Delta Holding and the consortium of the Nikola Tesla Airport, Energoprojekt Holding and JP Beogradski Sajam. The decision on the selection of the partner has not yet been reached, and it is estimated that EUR 15-20 million needs to be invested.

Down the Danube to Golubac, we reach the 13th spot. The project of the revitalization of the Golubac Fortress started back in 2012, and the tunnel and the bypass around it opened in July 2016. The value of the construction of the 760 m section, consisting of the bypass route and the 150 m tunnel is EUR 2.3 million. Before the construction of the bypass route, vehicles were passing through the fortress, and the tunnel should unload the traffic in this part of the Djerdap route. The municipality of Golubac is planning to make its tourist offer competitive, and the construction of a an aquapark is also planned to that end. The complex will spread on around 1.1 hectares, on the location already containing indoor football, handball, basketball and sand volleyball courts, which should be renovated and modernized. The construction of two tennis courts has also been announced.

The spots 14 to 19 feature hotels. The construction of Belgrade's InterContinental hotel, started by Delta Holding, placed 14th. Aside from the announcement of the continuation of the investment, there's no information on the data when the hotel might be completed.

(InterContinental hotel Belgrade) In late 2016, the owner of Matijevic meat industry, Petar Matijevic, bough the Jugoexport building in order to turn it into a hotel. Matijevic paid around EUR 7.4 million for the building, and he said on the occasion that it was necessary to invest around EUR 4 million in it in order for the future hotel to have four plus stars. Whether due to the building or its new owner, the investment attracted enough interest to earn it the 15th place on our list.

The hotel complex of the Greek company Lamda Development placed 16th. The 100,000 square meter complex should be built beneath Kalemegdan, in the location of the former Beko factory. Although the company initially planned the construction of a megalomaniac 140,000 m2 project in the location, they gave up on it.

New City Hotel, located in the building of the former Grand hotel in Nis, placed 17th. The hotel's new owner, Toncev Group, invested EUR 1.5 million in the renovation and adaptation of the hotel building.

Rtanj is also supposed to get another hotel, the construction of which began in August 2016. The works are planned to be completed by the end of 2017. The investment, which placed 18th on our list, is owned by Jadranka Stepanovic, co-owner of the pellet factory Bioenergy Point. The hotel will be arranged in an ethno manner, will feature an artificial lake in the front, and the plan is to also install a panoramic cable car, which would run from the foot tot he top of the mountain.

The TESLA Smart Stay hotel in Belgrade also found its place on the list, as did the planned investments in Silver Lake.

Take a look at the complete list of investments in TOURISM, ENTERTAINMENT AND RECREATION and compare it to your thoughts, estimates and projections.

Also, have you seen the list of projects which you’ve found the most interesting in the INDUSTRY, REAL ESTATE, AGRICULTURE AND FOOD INDUSTRY and TRADE CENTERS categories?

eKapija.com Beograd

KMKM Beograd

ZAP d.o.o. Beograd

Vlada Republike Srbije

Ambasada SAD Beograd

Hilton Belgrade

Grad Beograd

Hilton Worldwide

Ex ing B&P doo Beograd

JP Beogradska tvrđava Beograd

Saobraćajni institut CIP d.o.o. Beograd

JP Direkcija za građevinsko zemljište i izgradnju Beograda

Delta Holding d.o.o. Beograd

Skijališta Srbije Beograd

JP Gradsko stambeno Beograd

Gold gondola Zlatibor Čajetina

Ministarstvo građevinarstva, saobraćaja i infrastrukture Republike Srbije

Opština Čajetina

Coreside d.o.o. Beograd

Merkur bolnica za lečenje i rehabilitaciju Vrnjačka Banja

Delta Real Estate d.o.o. Beograd

MK Group d.o.o. Beograd

Hotel Sheraton Novi Sad

DELTA HOSPITALITY DOO BEOGRAD - OGRANAK HOLIDAY INN BEOGRAD

Ministarstvo privrede Republike Srbije

HUP Evropa Surdulica

MKMR doo Kopaonik

Ministarstvo finansija Republike Srbije

Aleksandar gradnja d.o.o. Novi Sad

Vinarija Grabak Vrnjačka Banja

Turistička organizacija Vrnjačka Banja

Hotel Grey Kopaonik

Ministarstvo turizma i omladine Republike Srbije

CONSILI d.o.o. Beograd

Grad Novi Sad

JP Sportski i poslovni centar Vojvodina

JP Sava Centar Beograd

A.D. Aerodrom Nikola Tesla Beograd

Ministarstvo za evropske integracije Republike Srbije

Delegacija Evropske unije u Republici Srbiji Beograd

Opštinska uprava opštine Golubac

Arhiplan doo Aranđelovac

Delta Agrar d.o.o. Beograd

IM Matijević d.o.o. Novi Sad

JUBANKA A.D. BEOGRAD

Lamda development d.o.o. Beograd

Republički zavod za zaštitu spomenika kulture Beograd

New City Hotel & Restaurant Niš

GP Tončev Gradnja d.o.o. Surdulica

Tončev group Niš

Bioenergy point d.o.o. Beograd

Opština Boljevac

Tesla Smart Stay doo Beograd

Opština Veliko Gradište

Aqua arts - Aquamarin d.o.o. Beograd