RETROSPECTIVE 2012 - Investments in TOURISM, ENTERTAINMENT AND RECREATION that attracted greatest attention of eKapija users in 2012

eKapija`s 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 2011. The results are very interesting, some are expected, but there is a plenty of surprises, which is why we`ve decided to share this information with you.

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

In 2012, the number of five-star hotels in Serbia exceeded 10, and judging by announcements, ongoing reconstruction projects and the planned opening of few more luxury hospitality facilities will bring better times for Serbia's tourism. This is at least as far as accommodation capacities are concerned, although the dilemma of whether we have clients for so many luxury hotels still remains unresolved.

A good news is that Belgrade is not the only tourism center in Serbia any more. Multimillion investments in hotel business found their way to Vrdnik, Arandjelovac, Leskovac... This year's list shows that interesting tourist amenities, such as sports complexes, spa centers, inevitable aqua parks, horse farms and wineries, will be attracting tourists all across Serbia.

For people living in Irig, at the foot of Mount Fruska Gora, the life has been somewhat different since the second half of 2012. In late August this small municipality in Vojvodina got Premier Aqua Hotel, which should significantly improve the potential of the Vrdnik spa. However, the opening of this luxury hotel of Novi Sad-based Promont Group, whose construction commenced in 2011, is expected to improve not only the potential of Vrdnik, but also the spa tourism in Serbia in general. Aside from luxury accommodation and numerous amenities worthy of a hotel with the highest number of stars, this facility also offers the services of the Aqua Medica center, which is unique in the region. A part of the hotel is specially designed for congresses, seminars, training courses and team-building events, which reveals Premier Aqua's ambition to become a central venue for business gatherings. It is enough to say that this multipurpose hotel in Vrdnik jumped from seventh place on our last year's list to first place on this one.

This domestic investment in Serbia's tourism potential is followed on the list by a foreign investment in hotel business in Serbia. Austria's Falkensteiner opened a EUR 45 million hotel in New Belgrade in December 2012. However, since last year, this famous Austrian hotel chain is not operating in the Serbian capital only. On September 1st the Falkensteiner Michaeler Tourism Group AG (FMTG) assumed the management of a four-star hotel at Jabucko Ravniste at Mount Stara Planina for the period of 15 years, meaning that the Austrian hotel chain brought the total of eight stars to the Serbian hotel business in 2012.

(aqua park in Arandjelovac)

After Vrdnik, Belgrade and Stara Planina, third place on our rank list brings us to Arandjelovac, a city that best proves that neither congress tourism nor luxury hotel amenities represent an exclusive characteristic of the capital city of Serbia. When Miroljub Aleksic, the owner of the Alco Group, took over Izvor Hotel and invested about EUR 35 million in it, and then invested another EUR 7 million in an aqua park, many people believed it was a "gambler's" move because Arandjelovac is neither the capital nor a classical winter or summer tourist resort. However, there is now no big congress or business gathering that is not organized there, whereas the aqua park in Arandjelovac, which was opened last year and was attracting 1,500 guests per day on average during the last summer, was visited by over 100,000 people in the summer 2012. This city is going to experience an even bigger boom after the reconstruction of Staro Zdanje Hotel, which aforementioned Aleksic bought in a package with Sumadija Hotel, Arkade restaurant, swimming pool and two auxiliary buildings. The idea is to reconstruct these facilities to create a unique tourist resort at the foot of Mount Bukulja to supplement the existing tourist offer of the complex comprising Izvor Hotel and the aqua park.

The fourth-ranked investment on our list confirms that the interest in aqua parks in Serbia is not declining yet. Petroland in Backi Petrovac, in which Slovakia's Aqua Therm Invest has so far invested EUR 8.5 million, was opened in April 2012. What makes this aqua park different from most other similar complexes is thermal water that is used to fill all swimming pools, thus making it possible for the park to be open during most of the year. However, we will have to wait for few more years to bathe in this aqua park in winter, given that only the first phase of work on this water complex in Vojvodina has been finished to date. In the following phases, as it was announced, this aqua park will also get an Olympic swimming pool, amphitheater, indoor swimming pools and bungalows, whereas the completion of a hotel is in the pipeline for 2013.

(Metropol Hotel)

The most famous hotel of ex-Yugoslavia, Belgrade-based Metropol, has opened its doors to guests once again, which is more than a sufficient reason for it to rank fifth on our list. With the exterior identical to the one of former Metropol, this hotel now has five stars and spans about 30,000 square meters.

In September 2013, on the site of Continental Hotel in New Belgrade, another five-star hotel will be opened as part of the hotel chain InterContinental Hotels Group, under the brand of Crowne Plaza. Reconstruction of the famous Belgrade hotel commenced in July 2012, and this investment ranks sixth on this year's list. As it was announced earlier, the Delta company is going to invest EUR 30 million in the new five-star hotel.

Nevertheless, new hotels and announced investments were not the only things that attracted the attention of our readers, given that Square Nine Hotel was also in the focus during the whole last year. Considering that this hotel has won five significant international awards over the last few years, which has placed it at the very top of the hotel industry, the fact that it ranks seventh on our list comes as no surprise.

We are staying in the Serbian capital, whose downtown should look much different in the years to come, at least judging by announcements. The eighth place on our list belongs to two urban projects in Belgrade. The first is a decades-long wish of the citizens of Belgrade that the pedestrian zone along Knez Mihailova Street be connected with the Kalemegdan Park, that is, the Belgrade fortress. Preliminary designs are done, so that its implementation may start as early as this year. The second project is the reconstruction of Karadjordjeva Street and Savamala, which has got various new facilities over the past few years.

The ninth-ranked investment is a tourist complex at Pasina Cesma near Leskovac, which is being built by the Emirates Power company. Investing in the south of Serbia did not end with the opening of a hotel in June 2012. After opening that hotel, Arab investors continued to build a tourist and sports complex on an area of 86 hectares. The second phase, which is now underway and is expected to be finished by June 2013, will see the construction of a sports and recreation center with a number of facilities: sports arena, indoor Olympic swimming pool, outdoor swimming pool, big gym within the hotel, spa center and a casino. A five-star hotel, shooting range and a horse farm will be built in the third phase, which should begin this autumn.

The tenth-ranked investment is Zvonko Bogdan Winery at Palic Lake, the winner of the 2012 Aurea Investment of the Year Award, which is presented by our web portal. From the very start, there has been but one rule at the winery – everything must be top of the tops: from climate and land to the endeavor to move on to the organic production, which is why top quality is a must. A traditional way of production combined with the use of contemporary technology and the experience of top enologists guarantee the top quality of wine. The plan is to open a hotel and a restaurant next to the winery, as well as a farm featuring the Museum of Zvonko Bogdan, so that the winery should also contribute to the development of tourism at Palic Lake.

The news that Obrenovac has announced the construction of an aqua park ranks eleventh on our list, followed by twelfth-ranked Grand Hotel in Nis and thirteenth-ranked Radisson Blue Hotel that should be built on the Stari Mlin (Old Mill) site in Belgrade. The fourteenth-ranked investment takes us back to Mount Stara Planina, where the first ski gondola in Serbia was put into operation in January 2012. Reconstruction of an old castle and its transformation into Kastel Hotel in Zobnatica, which ranks fifteenth, closes our this year's list.

Take a look at the complete rank list of 20 investments in the category of TOURISM, ENTERTAINMENT AND RECREATION and compare it with your own opinions, expectations and assessments.

One more thing - have you already read which projects attracted your greatest attention in the categories of AGRICULTURE AND FOOD INDUSTRY, REAL ESTATE and INDUSTRY.

eKapija.com Beograd

Promont group d.o.o. Novi Sad

Best izgradnja d.o.o. Novi Sad

Atelje-Ratan Novi Sad

Falkensteiner Hotel Belgrade

Falkensteiner Hotel Belgrade

Falkensteiner Michaeler Tourism Group Austria

Sp resort doo

JLL Beograd

Ministarstvo finansija Republike Srbije

Imperial gradnja d.o.o. Beograd

JP Stara planina Knjaževac

Opština Knjaževac

Alco group d.o.o. Beograd

ALCO GROUP HOTELI DOO BEOGRAD

Amasis d.o.o. Beograd

Hotel Sloboda a.d. Šabac

Aqua Therm Invest Bački Petrovac

L&B Park Bački Petrovac

Vlada AP Vojvodina

Metropol Palace Hotel Belgrade

Hotel Crowne plaza Beograd

Altau Hospotality Balkans Beograd

Turistička organizacija Beograda

NBGP Properties d.o.o Beograd

JP Beogradska tvrđava Beograd

Gradska opština Obrenovac

Vinarija Zvonko Bogdan doo Subotica

Delreal 1 d.o.o. Beograd

Delta Holding d.o.o. Beograd

Delta Real Estate d.o.o. Beograd

Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. Stamford

Domaa d.o.o. Beograd

Hotel Square Nine Beograd

Grad Beograd

Urbanistički zavod Beograda

Gradska opština Savski venac

Antipod d.o.o. Beograd

Petokraka d.o.o. Beograd

Energosistem Čogurić Leskovac

Emirates power Constracting & General Maintenance Beograd

Park Palić d.o.o. Palić

Vlada Republike Srbije

Srbija turist a.d. Niš

Agencija za privatizaciju Republike Srbije Beograd prestala sa radom 29.01.2016.

Soravia Management d.o.o. Beograd

EBRD Evropska banka za obnovu i razvoj

Republički zavod za zaštitu spomenika kulture Beograd

Skijališta Srbije Beograd

New Company ogranak IN Hotel Beograd

Erste Bank a.d. Novi Sad

Vrdnik

Premium Aqua

Promont Aqua

Aqua Medica center

Falkensteiner

Falkensteiner Michaeler Tourism Group AG

FMTG

Falkensteiner hotel Stara planina

Jabucko ravniste

Hotel Belgrade Falkensteiner

Miroljub Aleksic

Alco Group

aqua park Arandjelovac

hotel Staro zdanje

hotel Sumadija

restaurant Arkade

Bukulja

A hoteli hotel chain Belgrade

Sloboda Šabac

aqua park Backi Petrovac

Aqua therm invest

L&B Park Backi Petrovac

hotel Metropol

Altau Hospitality Balkans Belgrade

SAS DAB Belgrade

Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide

Continental Hotel Belgrade

Museum of Zvonko Bogdan

Palic

Palic Lake

hotel Grand Nis

Hotel Nis

hotel Radisson Blue

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

EBRD

Kastel hotel

Zobnatica