AFTER multi-billion crown investments here by carmakers and electronics manufacturers, the Slovak tourism industry can now look forward to some hefty injections.
Piešťany, Slovakia's leading spa and well-being centre, will receive investments exceeding Sk32 billion, i.e. equal to the amount invested in the construction of the PSA car plant in Trnava or the Kia factory near Žilina, the Hospodárske Noviny financial daily reported.
The Piešťany city office informed the daily that the investment should be completed by the end of 2012.
A new international golf club would be the most extensive project. Katex, a Russian company, will invest Sk7 billion in the 27-hole course close to the village of Lúka. Slovak developer Iuris Group will build a complex of hotels, casinos and shopping malls for Sk7.7 billion at the top of the Červená skala hill. And a Saudi prince, Abdul Aziz Meteb bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, confirming Piešťany's reputation as a popular destination for Arabs, plans to build a new spa complex including treatment facilities, doctors' offices and a hotel for Sk3 billion in nearby Moravany.
As yet unidentified investors plan to invest an additional Sk10 billion in the biggest wellness centre in Central Europe, as well as in the facilities of the town itself, including modernisation of the local airport.
