6 New Theme Parks to Challenge Port Aventura

[Anonymous]

MADRID - The Catalan government has signed a deal for a new 4.5 billion euro mega theme park named Barcelona World, Catalan officials made known at a press conference on Friday.

Catalan President Artur Mas, leading savings bank La Caixa and Sao Paulo, Brazil, based real estate developer Veremonte Participacoes S.A. entered a deal to build a complex of six theme parks, six hotels totaling 12,000 rooms, casinos, restaurants, theaters and offices on 826 hectares in Tarragona, near the existing PortAventura theme park and resort. Spanish entrepreneur Enrique Banuelos, who is on the Forbes list of world billionaires, is on the board of Veremonte. La Caixa bank owns 50% of PortAventura, as well as the land to be developed for Barcelona World. It will leave the joint venture once the new complex is finished, officials said.

''We want to consolidate ourselves as a world tourism capital, and this is why it will be called Barcelona,'' Catalan economics minister Andreu Mas-Colell told reporters. ''Competition is what it is, and we want to make sure Catalonia is a tourism industry leader.'' The new Barcelona theme park complex will recreate six world areas: Brazil, China, Europe, India, Russia, and the US. It will generate 20,000 jobs, said Veremonte Managing Director Xavier Adsera.

The site already has existing resort infrastructure, such as Reus airport, an AP-2 highway exit, and working golf courses, swimming pools, and beaches. Slated to open at the end of 2016, Barcelona World aims to attract 10 million visitors a year, against the 4 million a year that currently go to PortAventura.

The theme park will compete with Eurovegas, a new gambling complex in the works in Madrid at the hands of US billionaire Sheldon Aldelson and his luxury resort company, Las Vegas Sands Corp. Catalonia turned down a development offer from Las Vegas Sands, which demanded flexibility on smoking bans, immigration legislation, and minors' access to gambling areas.

Barcelona World is ''incompatible'' with Eurovegas, Mas-Colell said. Born in Sagunto, Spain, Banuelos, 46, was the golden boy of the Valencia real estate boom. He is the founder and former chairman of Astroc Mediterraneo S.A., whose shares soared from 6 to 70 euros on reportedly inflated earnings in 2006. When the real estate bubble burst a year later, Banuelos jumped ship, saving his personal fortune. Abandoning Astroc, he built a Spanish Tower in New York, and is now reinventing himself in Brazil, where a new real estate boom is in full swing on Rio de Janeiro's designation to host the 2016 Olympics, and where Banuelos reportedly has made real estate investments of more than 1 billion euros. (ANSAmed).

Source

Sounds pretty exciting. Discuss.

 

[Jonathan]

It seems very ambitious, to be honest. I'm slightly doubtful as to how viable it's going to be. Still, if it does go ahead, then there'll be more of a reason to go to Barcelona for many people.

 

[Rob]

I think by 6 new theme parks it means 6 themes areas within one theme park. Sounds interesting though, it's a hell of a lot of money! They must be very confident of it being an instant success if they're willing to invest that much and build all those facilities. I'll save my judgement until we know more about it though and have some form of concepts.

 

[Tomahawktom]

Don't La Caixa own Port Aventura, or have they sold up there shares in it? I just a bit confused why would they build another park to compete with there own :/

 

[Rob]

The article does say that La Caixa own 50% of PortAventura yeah, so that does seem ever so slightly strange. It sounds like La Caixa will leave this new project when it is complete, I think that's what it means anyway. I suppose it's a bit like Merlin building a new massive theme park on the other side of Stoke-on-Trent, strange!

I say all of that with no prior knowledge at all in regards to the ownership of PA.

 

[joelpagett]

Well this is good news for Madrid, I am going there this august... doubt it would be build by then

Anyways... Spanish theme parks seem to be doing well in the current economic climate, Porteventura, Parque De Attractiones etc but does spain really need a MULTI-BILLION dollar theme park complex? I am not sure, but I know there would be another reason to visit Madrid in the future!!!

 

[Tomahawktom]

Just found this on screamscape:

PortAventura reports that Investindustrial, an Italian private equity firm, has agreed to take full control of PortAventura. Three years ago the group had bought a 50% stake in PortAventura and will now pick up the remaining shares from La Caixa for about 120 million Euros.

So this might be why La Caixa are doing this.

 

[Rob]

Well this is good news for Madrid, I am going there this august... doubt it would be build by then

Anyways... Spanish theme parks seem to be doing well in the current economic climate, Porteventura, Parque De Attractiones etc but does spain really need a MULTI-BILLION dollar theme park complex? I am not sure, but I know there would be another reason to visit Madrid in the future!!!

It's going to be near Barcelona, not Madrid!

 

[venny]

There is no way to build 6 theme parks, 6 hotels and all the other paraphanelia for 4.5bn Euros. That is unless they are going to be very very cheap theme parks. As Rob says, I think it must be 6 themed lands rather than separate parks. The marketing gurus and press have done this before. Remember when everyone thought that the Wizarding World of Harry Potter was going to be an entire theme park, rather than just one land within an existing park.

 

[AstroDan]

Isla Magica...
Terra Mitica...

Such success stories.

I am not sure there is the market in this. Spain has a faltering economy yet seems to be pressing ahead with loads of these massive theme park ideas - Paramount Park is another.

 

[Alastair]

Tarragona will be an absolutely monstrous theme park hub if this goes ahead. Almost like giving the finger to Parque Warner in Madrid.

 

[joelpagett]

Well this is good news for Madrid, I am going there this august... doubt it would be build by then

Anyways... Spanish theme parks seem to be doing well in the current economic climate, Porteventura, Parque De Attractiones etc but does spain really need a MULTI-BILLION dollar theme park complex? I am not sure, but I know there would be another reason to visit Madrid in the future!!!

It's going to be near Barcelona, not Madrid!

Whhoops thats what i meant

 

[AstroDan]

Tarragona is twinned with Stafford.

How appropriate!



Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

[TheMan]

How many people visit Florida for Disney etc, and even Rust (or wherever it is) for Europa? The amount of tourist visitors Europa gets is brilliant.

If this is a personal investment, it wont hit the economy, it's a brave move by someone to actually move some cash around - and into a park for 4/5 BILLION did I read there?

Boy, if you ever want value in the Labour and building sectors, now is the time to get it. That will be a good deal cheaper now to build than in a boom.

This guy knows what he is doing, that's for sure. Land/Labour/Skills etc, all way cheaper right now - buyers market.

Looking forward to these plans, and good luck to them I say!

 

[CGM]

It all seems very high stakes and I'm not certain they'll see a payoff. As mentioned above, a humongous amount of EU money was thrown at Terra Mitica which must have seemed like a great idea on paper but commercially it's been a complete flop. With all of the problems Spain is having economically and all of the uncertainty right now, these huge projects seem like stone-walling exercises rather than projects for the long term.

 

[TheMan]

Am I missing something here though, is this guy not ploughing in his own money to fund this? Private investment stimulus is exactly what an economy needs to stimulate it.

If it's more EU money, then that's a bit ridiculous, but I get the sense it's private equity. That's the kind of movement of cash that needs to start happening.

The fact it's a big theme park rather than some office blocks is even better if so.

 

[CGM]

I think you might be right about this being a private equity funded project. Terra Mitica definitely was mostly funded by EU grants though.

I'm just not sure if it's a sensible to be putting so much money into a venture of this type when there are currently thousands of empty holiday homes there that can't be sold and abandoned, half-built construction projects littered across Spain.

You cannot sustain a country the size of Spain on tourism alone, it's far too fickle an industry and over-investment in it has led to the problems they have now. They should be trying to grow their export market but the Spanish government seems to backing hugely ambitious high risk projects like this instead.

Also, at the risk of sounding a little boring, I don't think there's a market or a need for another huge theme park resort of this type in Spain right now or in the immediate future. They have a good balance of quality parks as it is and only one of them is operating at anything like capacity.

This looks to me like yet another attempt to replicate the success of PA. Every attempt so far has produced a bit of a white elephant. I hope this is a different story but I remain skeptical.

 

[TheMan]

A theme park should not be funded by EU grants I don't believe. That belongs on the new EU or Not thread that's been started

I don't think what you are saying is boring either, I'm sure I read that he escaped a collapse of another company, and managed to keep his personal fortune somehow. Not sure how that worked, but it can be done of course.

Theme Park brain says - yeaaaah new park, big rides, bring it on! But as you say, for the good of a whole economy, would something else not be better?

I guess we will find out eventually.

 

[Alastair]

Terra Mitica didn't have sufficient investment to really put it on the map in the style of this proposed "Barcelona World" or even Port Aventura. It's kind of like the Fantasy Island of Spain - an SLC and a ZacSpin as the main attractions don't exactly attract people specifically to go there specifically for the park.

 

[CGM]

Terra Mitica didn't have sufficient investment to really put it on the map in the style of this proposed "Barcelona World" or even Port Aventura. It's kind of like the Fantasy Island of Spain - an SLC and a ZacSpin as the main attractions don't exactly attract people specifically to go there specifically for the park.

The theming at Terra Mitica is some of the most impressive I've ever seen. Not only in terms of scale but also the quality of the materials used. The Greek temples have pediments made of real marble and much of the Egypt area is finished in real sandstone. The infrastructure getting to and from the park is also second to none. No shortage of money went into the park, they just didn't splash out on the rides when it opened. In a way, it's understandable. If you're building 20-30 brand new rides in one go, it's hard to justify buying the best that money can buy.

Apparently, they were planning a B&M floorless coaster with 10 inversions at one time as a signature ride. But by that point, the park simply couldn't afford it and after years of dismal gate figures, further government funding was refused.

The main flaws with Terra Mitica were not understanding the target market and in my opinion, poor marketing. I know many people who have visited that part of Spain and had no idea it exits. I remember when I visited, the billboards advertising the park made it look like a historical reenactment attraction rather than a theme park. They just didn't seem very proactive in telling you it was there and what it was.

I really like the park despite its poor coaster line up and I hope that it can turn its fortunes around. It has some brilliant water rides and dark rides and it looks fantastic.