Hotel at Wallersee-Ostbucht: “You don’t find out anything”
The American Marriott hotel chain is interested in building a 249-bed hotel on the lake shore, city officials say. But the eastern bay of the Wallersee with its lido and campsite is a popular recreational destination. Almost a hundred long-term campers have pitches in the bay – one of them is Erwin Pointl.
“Everything is done behind closed doors”
Pointl and other campers fear that if the hotel were to be implemented in the envisaged dimensions, it would be the end for the campsite: “It’s the uncertainty because nobody knows what’s going to happen next. In the end you don’t learn anything.” The former Neumarkt city councilor and long-term camper Michael Lanik feels the same: “It would be desirable if all those affected – they are not just like campers – could finally communicate openly and honestly with community politics. It’s all done behind closed doors.”
Further dispute over hotel plans in Wallersee-Ostbucht
Hotel chain interested, “but no plans yet”
But the American hotel chain is interested in the Grund am See, which belongs to the state of Salzburg, the municipality of Neumarkt and four private owners. The community has also been a lakeside hotel for more than 40 years, since the old beach hotel by the pool burned down in 1977.
The spatial development concept (REK), which is to apply from 2023, provides for touristic development of the Wallersee-Ostbucht, “but there is definitely no project development, let alone any planning,” emphasizes Mayor Adolf Rieger (ÖVP). “We are on the REK level. What can then ultimately be planned, made and built must of course be done in very close coordination with the state of Salzburg, with nature conservation. It will not draw up project plans that are then not approvable.”
Neighbors fear second homes through the back door
The residents and campers don’t want to believe this message from the mayor. Sketches have already emerged that would show exactly how the probable division of the eastern bay would be: “Of course we are not tourism experts, but we fear that sooner or later a hotel of this size will not be profitable to run and then to a certain extent in converted into second homes.”
Mayor Rieger rejects this: “There are no second home options. We all agree on that in the council. In any case, it is really very, very important to contractually prevent this. The state of Salzburg doesn’t want that either.” The campers emphasize that you’re not generally against a hotel, just against a major project. It must be possible to include hotels, campsites and lidos in the new overall concept.