Beirut on the Sava - Investor from Lebanon starts construction of EUR 1 million hotel in Sremska Mitrovica

(future look of the hotel)

Construction of Berytus hotel started on the bank of the Sava river in Sremska Mitrovica in the first days of October. An investor from Lebanon - Antoine Chami, is going to invest about EUR 1 million in that facility, which is expected to receive first guests in late September 2013.

In that way, the town of bachelors and famous cooks will at least partially solve a burning problem of lack of accommodation facilities. Unusual or not, although Mitrovica is abundant with tourist sights and ancient monuments aside from being the administrative center of the whole area, there is not one real hotel in the town. Sirmium and Srem are more of lodging houses than hotels, while the villa Bela Ruza has too few rooms to meet the growing interest of tourists.

The hotel Berytus (which is Latin for "Beirut") will span about 1,100 square meters and have a basement, ground floor, two upper floors and an attic. There will be a total of 16 rooms and a restaurant for about 120 guests, and this hotel will also have all the necessary auxiliary facilities. Berytus hotel, situated at 18 Ribarska Street, will employ about 15 workers.

The first time people in Sremska Mitrovica heard about the new hotel was in March, when Mayor Branislav Nedimovic announced that a project documentation was under preparation.

Investor Antoine Chami, owner of the company Berytus d.o.o., has been living in our country for ten years now. As he told the local media, he has spent a lot of time in Mitrovica since he came to Serbia and is always welcome in that town, which is why he has decided to have a hotel built in Mitrovica.

- We wanted to connect two ancient capitals, so I decided to call the hotel Berytus and, thus, bring the cultures of Sirmium and Beirut even closer together - Antoine Chami explained.

The author of the Berytus hotel project is the local architectural firm Krug Plus, whereas the responsible architect is Goran Milutinovic. The contractor is Marko Gradnja from Ruma.

At a ceremony marking the commencement of works, Mayor Branislav Nedimovic underlined the importance of that investment for the hotel business in Sremska Mitrovica.

(building site)

- The town plans to soon design a special strategy for projects in the hotel industry. Greenfield investments are definitely a must. We intend to introduce a set of incentive measures for this industry in 2013 - Nedimovic told the local media.

According to some estimates, Mitrovica needs to have between 60 and 70 beds per day to offer to businessmen and tourists. As people at the city tourism organization said, about 50,000 tourists visited Sremska Mitrovica and its surroundings last year.

Among the most attractive destinations is ancient Sirmium, primarily the Emperor's Palace and a part of the old city core at Zitni (Wheat) Square. The Basilica of St. Dimitrije and the Museum of Srem also attract a great attention. Every year more and more people tour the monasteries of Fruska Gora, and there is also the nature reserve Zasavica.

(Photo by: Sirmiuminfo)

M.S.