Koufonisia: permit issued for 63-bed hotel

The Building Service of Naxos and Small Cyclades issued the full building permit for the construction of a new tourist accommodation of 63 rooms in Ano Koufonisia, according to a report by Cyclades24. It is a property at the location “Ammuda” or “Agios Georgios”, and the project is being implemented through the company KOUFONISIA HOTEL & RESORT A.E., part of the broader investment planning of the Intracom group on the island. As the report states, it is the full permit for the project and not a pre-approval. The accommodation will be developed on a plot of 3,603.39 m², with approved coverage of 938.25 m², total construction of 1,449.10 m² and above-ground volume of 5,572.82 m³. It will have two floors, basement with temporary accommodation spaces and maximum height of 7.5 meters, while the permit also provides for the cutting of five trees.

The permit comes at the end of a process that, according to the same report, began in September 2025 with the initial pre-approval of the project and continued with two revisions, in November 2025 and August 2026. KOUFONISIA HOTEL & RESORT already has a hotel presence on Koufonisia, while the broader planning of Intracom on the island includes, apart from the new accommodation, also real estate development, as the report had recorded since May 2026. The project fits into a period of increased investment interest in the Cyclades, with similar moves being recorded also on other islands, such as on Mykonos and Santorini. Koufonisia administratively belongs to the Municipality of Naxos and Small Cyclades, a detail that explains why the licensing goes through the Building Service of Naxos.

For an island with a small permanent population and intense tourist pressure during the summer months, the addition of one more organized accommodation of 63 rooms is not a negligible development, even if it remains smaller in scale compared to infrastructure works being launched on neighboring islands, such as the expansion of the port of Ios. The cutting of five trees and the construction of a basement with temporary accommodation spaces raise issues that typically concern small Cycladic communities, where each new construction activity is discussed widely, especially when it affects areas near the coast. The report does not mention reactions from residents or bodies so far, nor does it record environmental terms beyond the technical specifications of the permit.

The amount of the investment is not mentioned in the report, while, according to information that had been published previously for the investment program, the project is reportedly having secured co-financing from resources of the Recovery and Resilience Facility. The new building permit concerns exclusively the accommodation of 63 rooms and does not include work for the residential component of the planning or the villas that reportedly are being planned in the same area, details that remain pending. It is not yet known when construction work is expected to begin or when completion of the accommodation is expected. The report also does not clarify whether the licensing of the residential component of the investment plan on Koufonisia is in progress or expected in a later phase.