Only Arabs live in this Bosnian town

The mountainous Balkan country, once rattled by the 1992-95 war, is becoming a popular destination for tourists from the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar thanks to its mild summer temperatures and local Muslim community.

In fact, Arab investors are building thousands of homes and hotels around Sarajevo and heavily promoting the destination to middle-class families looking for cheaper alternatives to the glamorous Swiss resorts. 

Welcome to the $27 million Arab-only resort project in Bosnia.

Located southwest of Sarajevo, the Arabs-only city includes 160 individual houses and apartments built around an artificial lake. The gated community offers swimming pools, supermarkets, sport facilities and views of the mountains where the Winter Olympic Games were held in 1984.

According to different sources the project was led by Kuwait's Gulf Estate Company only to be surpassed by Dubai's Buroj Property Development.

The latter plans to build a $2.4 billion town called Buroj Ozone on the Bjelasnica mountain, less than 14 kilometers southwest of Sarajevo. Construction works on 2,000 villas, 60 hotels, 186 residential buildings, a hospital, shopping malls, restaurants and even a dancing fountain began last year.

For tourists from the United Arab Emirates, Buroj Ozone's altitude, which stands at nearly 999 meters, and an average summer temperature of 25 degrees Celsius, can offer refuge from the emirates scorching heat, which can reach up to 48.8 degrees. 

It is said the communities will only allow Arabs (owners) and employees. They will be surrounded by heavy security and as soon as construction workers finish their job, the village will be prohibited territory for them. No one will be allowed to enter the premises of the properties without a special pass.

Residents won’t need to shop at local supermarkets, since the resort will include a shopping center. Home owners can also call for all services including drivers, domestic helpers and housekeepers from the reception area, just as they do in the Gulf.

This new type of tourism has stirred some anger on the part of the Bosnian population. Local media have complained to regional officials that it is unlawful for a foreign power to be able to buy up parts of the country and ban locals from entering it.

So far, the projects have positively impacted Bosnian tourism numbers. Overall tourism numbers were up by 30 percent in 2016 when compared to the previous year. Visits from Gulf countries are growing fast. The number of Kuwaitis has more than tripled in 2016 to reach 33,000.