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Development minister defends Corfu investment against ‘mass tourism’ criticism

Development minister defends Corfu investment against ‘mass tourism’ criticism

A luxury resort in Corfu on which work officially got under way in July is not a project to attract “mass tourism,” Development and Investment Minister Adonis Georgiadis said on Sunday, responding to a critical opinion piece by British financier Nathaniel Rothschild in Kathimerini over the project.

“It’s a good thing that there is dialogue. The idea that the investment is for mass tourism, with 90 rooms and villas and the lowest construction in all of Corfu – i.e. 7% – is completely wrong,” he said in a tweet on his official account.

New York-based investment fund NCH Capital, which secured the 49-hectare site in 2016, plans to build a 90-room five-star hotel, luxury residences and a marina. In his opinion piece, Rothschild said the Kassiopi Project, which is situated in pine-forested Erimitis, “will… never work.”

“The regional infrastructure is not in place to cater for mass tourism in northeast Corfu and Erimitis is too far from the island’s small airport. Even the main arterial road to the north is single-track in places. The developers have promised that the hotel will remain open all year around. No credible hotel operator will agree to this,” he wrote.

He also said that the Greek government should take advantage of its success in halting the spread of Covid-19 to move away from “blanket support of mass tourism towards a greener and sustainable model that is infinitely better suited to the post Covid-19 era.”
 

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