Europa Nostra advocates sustainable development plan for Dubrovnik

The UNESCO World Heritage city of Dubrovnik, in Croatia, faces two serious threats: a massive real-estate and golfing project on the plateau of Srdj hill and a significant increase in the number of cruise ships visiting the city. Europa Nostra has advocated a feasible economic, social, cultural and environmental development plan for the city and the surrounding area. In a letter addressed to the World Heritage Centre, the leading European heritage organisation calls for an immediate assessment of the impact of the project and urges local and national authorities to opt for a sustainable, long-term development strategy.

The one billion euro project, which includes a golf course, 240 villas, 400 apartments and two hotels, is promoted by international investors and strongly contested by many of the city’s 40,000 inhabitants and several environmental and heritage organisations. It is argued that the project would turn one third of Dubrovnik’s public space over to private development and would not bring any financial gain to the citizens. It is also stated that the works needed to bring water to the golf resort would cause massive damage to the environment. Last but not least, opponents stress that the project would seriously damage the scenic beauty and identity of the city. Indeed, a significant number of villas would be visible from within the World Heritage Site, which includes the island of Lokrum, and the development would have an impact on it. In a referendum held on 28 April, 8 out of 10 voters rejected plans for the resort, but turnout was only 30 percent, below the 50 percent required for its outcome to be binding. If international investors obtain the building permit by autumn as planned, construction work will begin next spring.

According to the Dubrovnik Institute for Tourism, the historic centre of the city has a carrying capacity of around 5,000 cruise ship passengers a day. At present the number of cruise ship passengers is in the region of 10,000 but it is proposed to allow this to increase to around 20,000. “The increase to 10,000 passengers a day has already had a significant effect on the quality of life for local people and has almost certainly contributed to the rapid decline in permanent residents living in the historic centre. It is not clear what economic benefits this increase in cruise ship passengers has brought but the pressure of visitor numbers is adversely affecting the visitor experience and calling into question whether this tourism model is one that is sustainable in the medium to long-term,” stated John Sell, Executive Vice-President of Europa Nostra. What is more, “the size of these ships has the effect of diminishing the apparent scale of the historic city, its harbour and the iconic city walls, and has a similar effect on the scale of the island of Lokrum,” added John Sell.

In a letter addressed to the World Heritage Centre, Europa Nostra calls for an immediate assessment of the impact of the real-estate and golfing project on the plateau of Srdj hill. It also urges the Croatian government to prepare as a matter of urgency a Management Plan for the Dubrovnik World Heritage Site, including a tourism strategy; the City of Dubrovnik to create a new development plan for the city in full consultation with its citizens; and the administration of the surrounding Dubrovačko-neretvanska county to devise a tourism and development strategy for the region.

“Unplanned development and the lack of a tourism strategy are likely to have an adverse effect on the World Heritage Site, a significant detrimental impact on people living in the city and the surrounding area and result in development which is economically, socially and environmentally unsustainable. World Heritage Site status quite properly imposes constraints on development but those constraints will only be widely accepted by local people if the World Heritage Site is well managed, is seen to bring benefits to all and is connected to a local development plan for the whole city which is good for its residents,” advocated the Executive Vice-President of Europa Nostra.