The new hotel should be operational by 2021.
At the end of last year, Lošinjska Plovidba presented two significant projects at the Rexpo international fair of investment projects in Zagreb. One was a marina in Lošinj, and the other was a wellness hotel at Rujnica, reports Novi List on January 30, 2018.
According to Đani Sučić, CEO of Lošinjska Plovidba, at this moment two possible options are being developed for the hotel in the Rujnica area. “One variant envisions a 250-bed hotel of seasonal character, while the second option provides for a health and wellness hotel with about 200 beds which would operate year-round. Although the first variant is simpler and closer to the current demand in Croatia’s tourism market, we are trying to launch year-round operations,” explained Sučić, adding that the hotel’s preliminary designs have been presented and that they are currently negotiating with potential health sector partners who could help implement the project. “We intend to offer a diverse range of health and wellness services and in that way strengthen the position of Lošinj as a destination for health tourism.”
“The plan would make Lošinj one of the strongest members of the Kvarner Health Tourism Cluster. Also, the hotel would bring more passengers to the Lošinj Airport. The hotel in the Rujnica area is certainly one of the important points of development of Lošinj as a destination for health and wellness tourism. We want to show that Lošinj truly is the island of vitality,” said Sučić. He explained that the idea is to offer guests, in addition to top-quality accommodation, various health, and wellness services, from specialist exams to therapeutic services, which would be provided in cooperation with top medical care providers.
“For now, we can not specify the services since we are still in the negotiation phase,” said Sučić, explaining that the value of the hotel project will be, depending on the chosen option, between 13 and 17 million euro. The more precise amount will be known when the option is selected and the details of the health services to be provided become known. Approximately two-thirds of the project would be financed with the funds of Lošinjska Plovidba and its potential partners, while roughly one-third would be funded through a loan.
In 2016, the Town of Mali Lošinj created spatial planning preconditions for this project, which enabled initial plans and pre-investment studies to be developed. The company launched the process of market definition, while also meeting with potential partners. Sučić said that it was realistic to expect the realisation of the initial phase of the project to take place in 2019 or 2020, while the full-scale operations would be launched by 2021 at the latest.
The second important tourist project is the marina development. “Lošinjska Plovidba currently manages both of the marinas on Lošinj. Next to one of them, there is a small shipyard, also managed by Lošinjska Plovidba. Currently, both marinas have 180 berths in the sea and further 140 berths on land. Spatial planning documents contain 380 berths, but our plans do not envisage more than 350 berths in the sea, while the number of berths on land would be approximately the same,” said Sučić, adding that this year the marinas were full, with just several monthly berths available.
“I would like to point out that, in cooperation with the Police Administration of Primorje-Gorski Kotar, we have completed the adaptation of the maritime border crossing to the Schengen standards, which will enable the long-term operation of a maritime border crossing on Lošinj. It should be noted that this is one of the most used maritime crossings in Croatia,” explained Sučić, adding that, when it comes to tourist results, Lošinjska Plovidba recorded a steady growth of visitors, with camps seeing a ten percent increase in the number of overnight stays last year.
Translated from Novi List.
