The first hotels and spas in a 1bn euro (US$1.43bn, £863.74m) resort being built in Messinia, Greece, will open in 2010.
Called Costa Navarino and masterminded by Greek company Temes SA, the development will contain 11 luxury hotels managed by various international brands along 150km of coastline. As well as 3,000 hotel rooms, there will be luxury villas, seven golf courses, six thalassotherapy centres and spas and a marina.
Costa Navarino will be the first 100 per cent emission-free resort in the world.
Each individual hotel is to have more than 1 million sq m (11 million sq ft) of space and will be built to be environmentally-friendly and self-sustaining. Great emphasis will be placed on bioclimatic architecture and preserving the local landscape and habitats.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts will open the first two resorts in 2010. A Westin property and a Luxury Collection Hotel, followed by a villa-concept Banyan Tree, will open in 2011.