Corinthia makes foray into ski, golf holidays

Corinthia Hotels International (CHI) has concluded negotiations over a 20-year management agreement with the developers of a new, €32 million, five-star ski and golf resort in Haus, in the Dachstein-Tauem mountain region of Austria.

The project was launched at a press conference chaired by the governor of the Austrian State of Styria at the Haus City-Hall.

Set amid stunning mountain scenery, the Corinthia Ski and Golf Resort will be located next to an existing 18-hole championship golf course at the foot of a mountain and is set to open in the latter half of 2006. The project will incorporate a 182-room, five-star hotel and an adjoining golf village with its own golf academy and training centre.

Facilities will include a number of suites with open fireplace, jacuzzi and private balcony with golf tee-off points, an executive club, a main restaurant, a far-eastern restaurant, cafeteria, winter garden and an extensive wellness centre with pool, sauna and health treatments.

A 450-square metre conference and convention centre completes a wide range of upscale facilities that will enable the property to become a leader in the region's five-star resort category.

The resort will offer guests an ideal combination of two major sporting activities that will enable it to retain a busy, year-round operation in a region that already attracts close to half a million visitors a year.

"This new property represents a landmark in Corinthia's expansion plans, as, apart from being our first operation in Austria, it will also be the first time that we are venturing outside our traditional boundaries of city and seaside resort locations," said Paul Pisani, Corinthia Hotels International's director of business development, who signed the management contract on behalf of the Maltese operator.

"This adds a new dimension to our portfolio of upscale hotels, that apart from high class conference facilities and seaside holidays, now also features the popular sectors of ski and golf holidays."

The Haus ski resort ranks among Austria's top-notch resorts and has hosted the 1983 Alpine Ski World Championships and the 1999 Nordic Ski World Championships. The region boasts nine ski-mountains, 86 cable car and chair lifts and 167 kilometres of ski runs, all available for at least 140 days of the year.

Like the ski resort, the hotel's adjoining 18-hole championship golf course is also among the top Austrian courses. It was inaugurated in 1990 and features an excellent driving range and clubhouse. It allows for about 190 golfing days. This facility will now be supplemented by the hotel's development of an additional 18-hole golf course and golf academy.

Corinthia Hotels International operates 20 four and five-star city and resort hotels in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Libya, Malta, Portugal, Russia, The Gambia, Togo, Turkey and Tunisia.