Croatia - A Developing Market

By Jeremy Pern, EIGCA Senior Member

Jeremy Pern signed his first golf course design contract in Croatia in 2002. He is currently working on three resort developments projects in Istria, all for the same investment group. Construction on the first project is about to start and the construction permits are well underway on the others.

Croatia is considered to be an up and coming tourist destination where golf course development has been identified as a vital component with 62 golf projects in the country’s tourism development plan*. Istria, the most northwestern part of the country, has 22 courses officially planned, with perhaps another 10-20 golf projects that are not on the government radar screen.

What makes Istria such a highly prized location for golf course developers and why after so long are there no existing resort courses open for play in Croatia?

The answer to the first question is simple – Istria is a beautiful region, with an unspoilt coastline, a well established, but unsophisticated tourist industry and good communications both by road and air. Low cost airlines fly into Ljubljana, Trieste, Pula, and Rijeka and there are about 200 million people living with a 6-8hour dive. Add to that olive oil considered even in Roman times to be the best in the world, a rapidly expanding and improving wine industry, white truffles to die for, an ideal climate for golf and potential golf landscapes that makes the Algarve and southern Spain look frankly sad.

But why are there no resort courses already in play? Actually there is one, Brijuni, a museum piece built in 1922 and remodeled by Tom Simpson in the thirties, a sand-green 18 hole course situated on a delightful island a few kilometers off the mainland, in the midst of a nature reserve. Abandoned for many years it is slowly coming back to life. The exception that proves the rule.

After the end of the hostilities between Serbs and Croats in the mid nineties many investors started to take an interest in developing golf tourism in Istria, led by enthusiastic Austrian bankers. But as is so often the case when bankers become developers interesting things happen, the bankers lose their money and the developments don’t happen.

Golf course developments stand on three legs - land, permits and money. Money is the least of the problems, when landownership and permits are a nightmare. Land can be owned by individuals (sometimes alive, sometimes dead, occasionally in Croatia, sometimes in America or elsewhere), or the commune (township), or the region or the state. Land can be bought or let, privately or publicly in the form of a concession. Various restrictions apply to who can buy what, and convoluted ownership systems abound. Just because you’ve paid for it, doesn’t mean you own it!

The land ownership issue becomes background noise once the planning permit stage is set. Like most of the rest of Europe permits involve an initial change of use zoning, followed by a detailed application for a construction permit, where an Environmental Impact Assessment is involved. But despite the national government’s enthusiasm for golf developments the Croatian planning system is not really designed for speedy treatment of golf course planning applications. Croatia inherited its administration from Yugoslavia, and although business tries to be dynamic, the old ways die hard. A highly centralized administration makes life tough for developers and an absence of any real understanding as to what a golf course actually is doesn’t help. Most local environmental planners seem to think that golf courses requires the same planning stringency as an application to create an open air nuclear waste dump, sewage treatment plant and municipal tip all rolled into one.

But things are moving - changes (Oct 2007) in the planning laws give more power to the local authorities that may speed things up. Recent golf conferences and seminars in Istria have done much to improve communications between developers and local authorities. One Austrian project actually broke ground in the summer of 2007 on the northern coast of Istria, but construction was stopped a couple of months later due to work permit problems.

Clearly such a confused, uncertain and lengthy permit process does no one any good, least of all the country itself.

Although things are slowing down in Spain and Portugal, golf course development in Morocco, Turkey, and Egypt is booming. Despite all the charms that Croatia has to offer, until a few golf course resort clusters become operational the overall quality of tourism there is likely to remain limited.

Many investors have already thrown in the towel and others are desperately seeking to cut their losses, however there are still a few who have sufficient resources and long term vision to keep going. Croatia does not want to go the way of southern Spain and the delays over the past 15 years will actually benefit their golf tourism industry ensuring that what does get built will be environmentally and economically sustainable.

Given the wonderful potential of its climate, landscape, culture and hospitality golf in Croatia, once it arrives, will be a truly rewarding experience.

*”Tee Off In Croatia” Golf Investment Guide 2006
Published by The Republic of Croatia and the Trade and Investment Promotion Agency.

This article originally appeared in Golf Course Architecture January 2008. Click here for further information.