New panels installed

Growing concerns about the privatization of Toscana Park

The new signs on the Toscana peninsula are causing a stir at Lake Traunsee.

(Bild: ZVG)

High waves at Lake Traunsee. Signs have been put up on the Toscana peninsula stating that it is on private property. They are fueling concerns that the hotel owners could no longer make the area leased from the state and federal government available to the public. The state sees no cause for concern. 

For almost two years, Gmunden has been haunted by the spectre that the Toscana Park, which is currently open to the public, could be "privatized" and thus closed. In 2022, it leaked out that the state and federal government, as owners, would lease the popular recreational area to a hotel development company for five decades for €12,000 a year. However, the exact details of the contract have been kept secret ever since. Now the waters are rising again: signs have been up for a few days indicating that the area is on private property.

The Toscana peninsula is a popular local recreation area.

(Bild: Wenzel Markus)

"According to the signs in the north-eastern area of the park, especially in Wittgensteinallee, use is only permitted until further notice," says Gmunden's environmental councillor Philipp Wiatschka (Neos) angrily. He sees a "salami tactic", which he has already warned about several times. "It looks like individual areas in the park are now being marked out as 'private'. Who knows what will come next?

Demand for access to contracts
In numerous discussions with representatives of the state and the hotel development company, it has always been emphasized that the park will remain public. There has never been any talk of privatization. Transparent access to the contracts has been denied to this day," rumbles the pink city politician.

State sees no cause for concern
However, the office of the responsible provincial councillor Markus Achleitner (ÖVP) sees no cause for alarm: "The signs are merely a legal clarification that the plots are and will remain publicly accessible. The signs are in no way connected to the hotel project."