Free wedding ceremony and permanent job for new couples – In 2014 Lukovska Banja to get new hotel, wellness center and outdoor pool

Girls who want to marry guys from Lukovska Banja and guys who want to marry girls from that region will get a free wedding ceremony and permanent job. The only condition is that the couple stays to live in Banja or some of the neighboring villages.

The matchmaking model arrived these days to the Kursumlija region. Tourist company, Planinka, decided to increase this way the population number of Banja which has been known for years a s a place where there are no unemployed. Since 2000, when they built the first hotel in Lukovska banja – the Kopaonik hotel, and then in 2009 the Jelak hotel as well, they record only an increase. The construction of the new hotel wing is in progress so they will need more staff, as eKapija finds out, as of the beginning of the next season.

Lukovska Banja located at the eastern slopes of the Kopaonik, at the 681 meter above the sea level, is the highest spa in Serbia officially. In the spa region, within a 500 meter diameter, there are 36 sources of thermal mineral water of different composition with temperature from 8 to 69 degrees. Therefore, this spa is one of the rare ones where winter and spa tourism can be mixed. Guests can use an outdoor swimming pool where temperature is 38 degrees.

There are some 1000 people living in the Lukovska Banja local community. Before the construction of the hotel, the spa completely extimguished and the people were leaving. Now, it’s a completely different matter. Both in Jelak and Kopaonik, people are looking for a bed more. Modernly-equipped rooms, pools, wellness and various medical and cosmetic treatments are the reason why this place is even more visited by the young people. Out of 130 workers in the spa hotels, almost all of them are from that place and only doctors and medical staff is coming for the Kursumlija region.

As Radovan Raicevic yesterday announced, Planinka will employ all newly-married couples in Lukovska Banja and organize them a wedding ceremony at its expense. There will be even more vacancies when the hotel gets its full splendor and the complex finishes.

Kopaonik now has 51 rooms in the new block, as we found out in Planinka and tourists will be offered 13 more (single-bed and double) as well as five suites.

Works are nearing an end and the opening is expected in early 2014, Snezana Ilic from Marketing Department says for our portal.

- New wing, both indoor and outdoor area, will occupy 1.000 m2. Apart from accommodation units, we are building an outdoor pool, 22 times 11 meters, with cabins and other facilities – a collocutor of eKapija explains.

New wing will be connected with the main hotel building so that the medical block which is located at the ground floor will be expanded to satisfy the needs of an increasing number of guests, both at the hotel and private accommodation.

Apart from that, within the new part of the Kopaonik hotel, there will be a wellness center at the level of the existing indoor swimming pool. There will also be a new outdoor swimming pool, as we found put from our collocutor.

Apart from mineral water sources, Lukovska Banja is typical for untouched area of woody Kopaonik and crystal clear air. You can spend an active holiday here, walking along the developed paths, doing some sports on the courts or in the hall, on some trip which hotels organize for its guests…

If you come to this place, do not miss lamb of veal specialties, local brandy and “prolom” beer, in a hidden ethno inn Lukovske kolibe, they say from Banja.

The only problem, both for tourists and citizens, is the road to Kursumlija, some 36 kilometers long which is in a very bad condition. Therefore, they hope that the government will soon initiate construction of the new road in this area rich in natural potential, especially because it will get another modernly-equipped hotel in a couple of months.

Planinka

Shareholder company, Planinka, at the end of 2012 had 380 employees while last year it generated net profit of more than RSD 292 mil, as stated in the financial reports.

Otherwise, factory for packing of Prolom voda operates within the company as well as the Special rehabilitation hospital- with centers in Lukovska banja and Prolom banja. Planinka is also responsible for the natural monument, Djavolja Varoš.

Suspension bridge in Prolom banja

Yesterday, Prolom Banja got a pedestrian bridge, 60 m long and, 20 m high, which connects the Radan hotel and the Sveto Preobrazenje church, at the rock above the river. The construction of the bridge and church which enriched the spa tourist offer, Planinka funded with some EUR 300.000.

M.S.