While hotels have been opened regularly in many holiday destinations in recent years, tourism projects continue to be on the agenda with their dimensions that make you forget the romantic cottages. The latest is in the southern Grisons mountain village of San Bernardino.
Lugano entrepreneur Stefano Artioli (62) wants to invest up to 300 million francs for the modernization of several hotels, holiday apartments and the cable cars in the village. In this way, it is aimed to revive the dormant mountain village with 1,500 beds. Artioli aims to complete the entire project by 2025.
Egyptian entrepreneur Samih Sawiris (65) also has big plans for Andermatt Swiss Alps AG. Sedrun wants to build a new village neighborhood from scratch for CHF 170 million in GR: 13 buildings, 410 hotel rooms, 119 holiday apartments. If all goes as planned, the new part of the village will be ready by 2027. Over the past 15 years, Sawiris has already invested nearly 1.5 billion francs in Andermatt UR in a massive resort with holiday apartments, hotels and a ski area.
risky card houses
Christian Laesser, 59, a tourism economist at the University of St. Gallen, is familiar with such massive projects: “The low-interest environment and cheap loans in recent years have given a new international boost to such large-scale projects.”
Laesser explains that the logic behind it has always been similar. “An investor can buy relatively cheap land and use it to develop a real estate business, including tourism.” The potential to increase the value of real estate can be remarkable, especially in wasteland. The expert says it remains to be seen whether this will work when interest rates rise.
Investors use the profits from the real estate business to develop tourism infrastructure and other real estate projects in the city. “If the calculation works, they create a self-reinforcing cycle,” Laesser says. But the projects are anything but a sure success, according to the economist: “If investors don’t get their real estate business up and running, the house of cards will collapse.”
Destinations offer hope for warm beds
Large projects can also be an opportunity for established tourism destinations. For example in Saas-Fee VS. Many hotels have closed there in the past. There is an investor with Swede Peter Wittander, 58, who wants to build 67 houses with 400 beds in six locations. According to Walliser Bote, 94 percent of the apartments worth CHF 72 million have already been sold.
The Second Homes Act allows new owners to rent out apartments in Saas-Fee. The community can therefore look forward to more guests. But having so many partners can be dangerous in the long run. “Projects like this are often profitable in the short run, especially for leading investors,” Laesser says. “But if major refurbishments are needed later on, conflicts can quickly arise between the many parties involved.”
Sawiris plans a marina and a small village
A $90 million project is nearing completion in the municipality of Hérémence in the Lower Valais. Key data: Around 160 apartments, including 60 hotel beds and a thermal and wellness centre. Here, too, investors sold some of the apartments.
And then there is another Sawiris project: the entrepreneur wants to build a marina and mini-village on Lake Uri. It plans a 50-room hotel and another 100 managed holiday apartments. As in most places, the project met a large number of critics as well as public approval.