When it was first announced that Almuñecar was to be the home of a 7-star hotel – only the second in Europe – the announcement was met with both expectation and incredulity.
Was it a publicity stunt by the then Mayor, Juan Carlos Benavides, soon to be ousted from government, or was it a soon-to-be reality; something that would put Almuñecar definitively on the map?
When the new PP administration took over the reins of the Town Hall, many hoped that the affair would be clarified, so when the new Councillor for Urban Development, José Manuel Fernández Medina, announced that the 7-star hotel, Bahía Fenicia, would be a reality, the incredulity retreated. It wasn’t just smoke and mirrors, as many believed.
The new Administration declared that despite the difference in political colour between the Regional Government and themselves, they both saw eye-to-eye and were jointly working towards culminating this mega-luxurious hotel project.
However, according to a local, online, news source, infocostatropical, all is not so rosy – far from it, because the Junta had taken out a lawsuit to not only contest the urban development of the hillside (Peñon del Lobo) but even the licence for the hotel itself. The said news source provided snippets of a legal document to support this claim.
This Internet news source claims that it has tried to contact a representative of the hotel chain, (Bayan Tree) but that the company had not wanted to make any declaration on this alleged latest development.
Something that should be taken into consideration is that the Junta de Andalucia is now a coalition government and the new partners, Izquierda Unida, have reportedly been against this particular project from the start.
Whatever developments might be taking place, even without this latest development, the day that the hotel will open its door is pretty far off, as at the present, the project is pending an environmental-impact study, whose green-light is crucial.
Beyond doubt is the fact that if the promised hotel ever open its doors, it will make a gigantic impact on the local economy, not because its guests will water the town with their wallets – they won’t – but because the mere fact that Almuñecar was chosen as its location, which will serve as a beacon for other investors.
One last point to be taken into consideration, although the said online news source has an excellent reputation and has long provided extensive news coverage for the Costa Tropical, its relation with the present Administration is not exactly cordial.
News: Almuñecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Spain
