Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jul 8
Ivanka Trump Eyes Luxury Resort on Albania's 1,400-Acre Sazan Island
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jul 8

Ivanka Trump Eyes Luxury Resort on Albania's 1,400-Acre Sazan Island

3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jul 8

Summary

  • Sazan Island has drawn Ivanka Trump’s interest for a luxury hotel and resort, with Trump saying on a podcast that she swam ashore from a friend’s boat and hiked to the top.
  • The 1,400-acre Albanian island sits in the Adriatic off Vlore and is prized for clear water, pine groves and relative seclusion from the mainland’s fast-growing tourist strip.
  • That appeal comes with major obstacles: Sazan is uninhabited except for about 12 Albanian soldiers and remains overgrown, rocky, snake-filled and seeded with mines from its military past.
  • The island once hosted Italian, Soviet and Albanian military bases, leaving ruins that underscore both the redevelopment challenge and the exclusivity sought for any future resort project.

Insights

Can a luxury resort be built on a mined island without destroying the very nature its developers praise?
Will a $4 billion resort on protected land be Albania's tourism triumph or an ecological and political disaster?