The Prague Post
May 16th, 2008
Reader's SurveyNEW     Endowment Fund     Book of Lists ONLINE      Reservations      Classifieds    Subscriptions
Prague accommodation
Prague Art & Antiques Prague Art Prague Antiques

Home » Archives » Business

Massive Šumava resort planned

Locals say development will spoil lake, nature reserve

By Paul Voosen
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
January 31st, 2007 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
An Austrian company wants to create an artificial village for foreigners along the shore of Lipno Reservoir.
There hasn’t been this much of an uproar around the town of Frymburk, south Bohemia, since part of the village was flooded and lost by the creation of the Lipno Reservoir in 1958.
Taming the Vltava River, the Lipno dam created the largest manmade lake in the Czech Republic, set resplendently against the Šumava mountains and Nature Reserve to the south, near the Austrian border. Traditionally a summer camping spot for Czechs, in recent years the lake has become a popular attraction for caravans of Dutch tourists.
“They come in huge droves in July and toodle about from there,” said Carolyn Zukowski, a hostel owner in Český Krumlov, the closest major town. They even come in winter now, as the skiing offered on the region’s low hills “is perfect for flatlanders.”
But this sleepy nook of Bohemia is being rocked by debate as a large Austrian developer, UBM, has announced plans to construct a 1 billion Kč ($46 million) resort village along the reservoir next year, on unused farmland in Frymburk. UBM says the village, which would house up to 2,000 people — doubling Frymburk’s population — will help revitalize the region, which has been stricken by unemployment.
“We strongly believe in the south Bohemia region and its potential,” said Margund Schuh, manager of the Lipno project.
The location of the resort, smack between a nature reserve and several historical tourism sites (Český Krumlov and nearby monasteries), will be a huge draw to future residents, Schuh said. The town’s proximity to Germany and Austria doesn’t hurt: Schuh expects future residents to be drawn from the two countries, as well as the Netherlands.
Along with the condos UBM plans to build and sell — a mix of apartments and individual housing, designed in a local architectural style by the firm České Budějovice Ateliér 8000 — the company plans to build restaurants, a yacht club, even a town square.
Residents of the area are questioning what economic benefit the village will bring, led by the Hruštice Civic Association, a group of 60 local residents.
“UBM says the village will create job opportunities,” said Milan Mikeš of the association. “But there won’t be new jobs. There will be only a few hotels, and mostly apartment buildings.”
“Why have a resort here?” he said. “There are fewer tourists here now. The weather tends to be the same, no winter, no summer. So people opt for Croatia.”
Schuh said the village would increase tourism in the region as a whole, and Frymburk itself would benefit with new customers using its restaurants and stores. The mayor of Frymburk, Oto Řezáč, supports the planned development, but declined requests for further comment.
Along with any tourism boost the resort might bring the region, the civic association has concerns over its environmental impact on the lake and the nearby nature reserve, and has filed a complaint with the Environment Ministry.
“There are already too many hotels in the Lipno region, and they do not fill to capacity,” Mikeš said. “It’s a great burden for the area, with all these septic tanks and sewage plants. The blue-green [algae] multiply excessively and the freshwater lobsters have all died out.”
“We are fully aware of the environmental impact of the development,” Schuh said. The company plans to comply with existing environmental mandates, including those demanded by the European Union’s Natura 2000 network, to which the Šumava reserve belongs.
As part of its plans, UBM will build an eco-friendly sewage plant for the resort, which will have excess capacity, allowing it to take on sewage from older, less-efficient plants. Because of this, the resort will actually improve the water quality of the lake, Schuh argued.
UBM has completed a study of the project and zoning requests will be filed soon. After zoning, there are building permits to be pursued; construction cannot begin until 2008, according to company estimates, allowing plenty more time for debate.
Hinterlands
While residents of the Lipno area may resist UBM’s development, their region is already changing under their feet, as more tourists discover Czech destinations outside of Prague.
There’s need to encourage this interest — from West Europeans in particular — as tourism to Prague has waned, with 1.2 percent fewer people visiting the city in 2006 than 2005. Encouragingly, overall Czech tourism increased 3 percent.
“We must remind people of the countryside, that the Czech Republic is a country,” said Tomio Okamura, member of the Association of Czech Travel Companies and Agencies.
“We have the biggest concentration of UNESCO sites in the world [relative to size],” he said. “We need new ideas, new projects, new places to give West Europeans a reason to visit.”
Though he welcomes investments like UBM’s, Okamura is skeptical of whether Germans and Austrians will decide to buy second homes in the company’s vacation community.
“You know, Austrians go to the dentist in the Czech Republic,” he said. “But there’s no big Austrian town [near Frymburk]. Second homeowners usually come from the big towns.”
Naďa Černá contributed to this report.

Paul Voosen can be reached at pvoosen@praguepost.com


survey banner


Other articles in Business (31/01/2007):

Browse the Current Issue

If you enjoyed this article, why don't you subscribe to the print version!
We accept secure online transactions provided by PayPal and Moneybookers

Be the first to add a comment!


Full Name: *
City: *
E-mail: **
This comment can be published in the print version of The Prague Post
Enter the text on the right:
 visual captcha
Comment: *
* Required field. In order to be approved for display, comments must have a first and last name and a city.
** E-mails are required and will only be used for internal purposes.

Most visited in Book of Lists

Hotel booking
The Prague Post Online contains a selection of articles that have been printed in
The Prague Post, a weekly newspaper published in the Czech Republic.
To subscribe to the print paper, click here.
Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.