Today at 07:30 • Updated today at 07:57
Peter Gillis’ plans for Croatia are met with little enthusiasm from SMOi, an organization that represents the interests of small landlords in the country. These ‘family landlords’ have traditionally been many in Croatia, and they feel threatened by large foreign investors such as Peter Gillis, who have a major impact on nature and yield little for local residents. “Croatia is not a colony of wealthy foreign investors.”
Omroep Brabant visited several of the ten locations in Croatia that Gillis has in mind, and spoke to a well-known mayor, several local residents and local experts of the tourism sector in the country. The plans appear to be less easy to realize than Gillis makes them seem, and are met with criticism.
‘Family landlords’
Croatian Marina Đukanović is affiliated with SMOi, an association established to protect the rights and interests of small family landlords. Because although many problems surrounding mass tourism are the same as elsewhere, there is something else going on in Croatia.
The group of ‘family landlords’ is enormous in Croatia. This refers to people who rent their home or apartment to tourists in the summer. For fifty years, more than half of all tourists visiting the country have been staying in these types of small-scale accommodations. A ‘sustainable model’ according to Đukanović, because this is how the profits from tourism end up at local companies.
‘Sad reality’
But this is rapidly changing, says Đukanović. “For a few years now, the government has been making it easier for foreign investors to start large projects that are promoted as ‘luxury’. This should ensure more quality. But it is at the expense of small-scale family landlords.”
Đukanović finds this a problem, especially because it feels like one-way traffic: “They smell money, but contribute nothing to the country. They build plastic houses in our nature and often sell them for three or five times as much money to their fellow countrymen, who then only come there occasionally. It turns entire areas into holiday resorts for mass tourism. It is a sad reality.”
‘Gillis is a textbook example’
She wants to emphasize one thing: she has nothing against luxury hotels and nothing against tourists. But there are hundreds of these types of large holiday parks and they are often not that ‘luxury’ at all, is her message. Because Gillis is not the first foreign investor to see opportunities (he himself calls them ‘money machines’) in the country. “This man is a textbook example. I’ve seen his show, he embodies exactly what we’re fighting against. The parks are so huge, it’s mind-boggling.”
The name of Gillis’ reality show, ‘Massa is Kassa’, is indicative, according to Đukanović. “It’s exactly right, he wants to put a lot of people in those houses and make money that way. But it is old school economicsit has nothing to do with sustainability and local communities.”
“We have nothing against tourism or investors,” she continues. “But we believe that everyone should benefit from it, and that nature should be protected. Nature is the most valuable thing we have.” She is clearly touched: “Croatia is not a colony of rich foreign investors.”
No sewerage
Journalist Iva Bucic speaks to us on the terrace of a coffee shop in Rovanshka, near Zadar. It is a beautiful area with a sea view and lots of unspoilt nature. Gillis wants to realize his ‘Resort Azure Bay’ here, with space for 480 ‘comfortable holiday homes’.
Bucic, who lives nearby, shares Đukanović’s analysis on the rise of wealthy foreign investors, and she also sees practical problems. “There are no roads here for 480 families. The water pressure is sometimes already problematically low in the summer, what will happen if there will soon be a huge park?” She delicately notes that many small houses in nature do not have sewerage. “That may be possible with a small home, but not with 480 holiday homes.”
‘I hate it’
According to Bucic, the developments that Đukanović is referring to are already visible, right next to the terrace. She points to three villas under construction. “I hate this kind of architecture. Croatian houses don’t look like this, it hurts me to see this. This is all built by foreign investors, and it goes on and on.” She worries: “I’m heartbroken when I think about what Croatia will look like in fifty years.”
Perhaps little consolation: the municipality of Jasenice, which includes Rovansjka, reports on Facebook that it is not aware of Peter Gillis’ proposed park. No plans are known and no permits have been applied for.
Head office
The land under any of the nine planned parks is not owned by Peter Gillis. Only the place where the head office should be located is his, according to data from the Croatian Land Registry. And at that location, located on a busy road, little activity has yet been observed.
Omroep Brabant asked Gillis for a response, but none was forthcoming.
This is the third article in a series of stories from Omroep Brabant about the plans that Peter Gillis has in Croatia.
