Five star hotel on nudist island? Montenegro is looking for a private investor for “Ada Bojana”

Press Release  of February 26, 2008

Radolfzell. One of the last Mediterranean natural landscapes is in danger. “The island Ada Bojana is a natural jewel of a kind which does not exist often any more in Europe. It fulfils all European and global criteria of a nature reserve and the core of a marine reserve”, says Dr. Martin Schneider-Jacoby, project leader of the European Nature Heritage Fund (EuroNatur). Consequently, EuroNatur is particularly critical about the current tender announcement for an international investor published by the Montenegrin Ministry of Tourism and the Environment. There are plans to build hotels of four or five star category on the almost five square kilometres large island in the delta of the Bojana River. “The tender announcement points into a completely wrong direction”, warns Dr. Schneider-Jacoby. By no means should more parts of the Ada Bojana Island be covered with buildings. EuroNatur demands that investments should only be made in the already existing hotel resort on the western part of the island while highest environmental standards must be fulfilled. The rest of the island must remain strictly protected.

Besides that, building a five star hotel attracts the wrong people. “Instead of building just another hotel complex on the Adriatic Sea, the Montenegrin Ministry of Tourism and the Environment should take the opportunity to support sustainable tourism on the Ada Bojana Island in order to preserve this unique natural heritage”, says Dr. Schneider-Jacoby. Like this, Montenegro could preserve the specific characteristics of the island, expect eco-friendly visitors throughout the whole year and thus give promising economic prospects for the region. Already in 2006 EuroNatur has accomplished an appropriate development plan for the Bojana-Buna-Delta (‘Bojana’ is the Montenegrin name of the river, ‘Buna’ the Albanian name).

Until the late 1980s, Ada Bojana was a famous nudist paradise all over the world, but the tourism was limited on a rather small resort so far. Thanks to the “Iron Curtain” along the Albanian border, the nature could develop without any disturbances for a long time and now has an extraordinary biological variety. Therefore, Ada Bojana today is regarded as an area of great importance for the protection of biodiversity in Europe. If Montenegro will join the European Union, the island will become part of the EU's international network of specially protected areas (Natura 2000). Untouched forests, dunes and wetlands shape the island.

EuroNatur stands up for the preservation to the biodiversity as well as the combination of different habitats in the Bojana-Buna-Delta to a cross-border paradise for birds and other species, and it has already significantly contributed to the establishment of protected areas along the Bojana River. Across from the Ada Bojana Island on the Albanian coast of the river, EuroNatur supports the establishment of the Velipoja Reserve.

See EuroNatur-paper on Ada-Island (pdf-file, 840 kb)

Link to the official tender announcement of the Montenegrin Government

More information about the EuroNatur projects in the Bojana-Buna-Region

For further question or photo material please contact:

European Nature Heritage Fund (EuroNatur)

Konstanzer Str. 22

D-78315 Radolfzell

Phone  0049 – 7732 – 92 72 0

Fax   0049 – 7732 – 92 72 22

e-Mail  info(at)euronatur.org