Land lease rates for hotel complexes, resorts and camping sites regulated

The government on Thursday adopted two rules regulating the lease of state-owned land at camping sites, holiday resorts and hotel complexes to facilitate the continuation of investments in the tourism industry.

Outlining the regulations, State Assets Minister Branko Bačić said that there were 75 camping sites and some 150 hotel resorts with 20 million square metres of land around those hotel complexes and resorts with camping sites where no land appraisal was made in the 1990s to add its value to the equity of the companies operating those complexes and resorts. In 2010, a law was adopted stipulating that the ground on which hotel buildings were located shall be owned by the companies concerned, while the land at campsites and around hotel complexes is owned by the state or local authorities, Bačić said.

In 2010, an approach was defined under which the owners of the buildings at such sites had to pay a concession fee for the use of the land, Bačić said.

However, this did not meet the needs of the tourism sector or local government units and therefore, a law on non-appraised construction land was adopted to address the issue, with land lease replacing concessions, he said.

Concerning camping sites, the land lease rates per square metre are between €1.26 and €2 annually, depending on the location.

Concerning hotel complexes and holiday resorts, the land lease is between €1.5 and €3 per square metre annually in the Adriatic Croatia, while in the interior of the country the rate is lower, €0.2 to €1 per square metre, Bačić said.

The proceeds from the land lease are shared between the Croatian Tourism Fund (40%), towns and cities (40%) and counties (20%).

The total annual amount paid by a company in the tourism sector for land lease cannot be higher than 4% of its total revenues, the government said, deciding to cap the lease amount and facilitate the business of tourism companies.

(Hina/FaH)

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