Investor aims to revive famous spa resort in eastern Romania with EUR 20 mln retreat

A new spa retreat, developed with a EUR 20 million investment, aims to revive the Lacu Sărat resort near Brăila, in Eastern Romania.

Local investor Vasile Dogărescu, who owns the Eldomir fuel station chain and several agricultural businesses developed under the same brand, inaugurated Alma Health & Spa Retreat, at the beginning of June.

“The motivation of this project has long exceeded the barrier of profitability and business. Alma Health & Spa Retreat is the soul project of our family and employees. On the one hand, through this concept we wanted to turn on the light in Lacu Sărat resort, an area with much natural potential, unfortunately, exploited for too long and without strategic investments. We started this project with a budget of EUR 12 million and reached a final investment of about EUR 20 million. I want this investment to be a new starting point for Lacu Sărat resort and to attract other investors with vision,” Dogărescu stated.

The resort has 185 rooms, event center and state-of-the-art health center, private beach, aqua park and swimming pools. The development phase took three and a half years. The resort currently has about 100 Romanian employees, most of them from Brăila or neighboring counties.

The targets people concerned with wellness & wellbeing, improving health, but also those who travel for business or events.

Lacu Sărat, a small resort located a few kilometers from the city of Brăila, used to be a popular destination for the great personalities of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In the past, Lacu Sărat was often compared to the Dead Sea due to its healing qualities.

After the Second World War, and especially after the Romanian Revolution, the resort entered a process of progressive degradation. Despite the medical properties of the sapropelic mud available here, the resort has disappeared in recent years from the forefront of Romanian tourism.

(Photo source: courtesy of the company)