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Europa Valley - Planned Holiday Village in France

CSLKenny

TS Member
Interesting news article about EP's ambitions on the other side of the Rhine. Like Rulantica was, and the cable car is, very much a long term project I can't imagine we'll see anytime soon but nevertheless the Macks certainly seem to have no intention of slowing down anytime soon.

Europa-Park has big plans in Alsace: the company plans to build hotels and apartments on an area of 150 hectares near Diebolsheim. There is no concrete concept yet, but there is a loud "Bravo" from French politicians.

Europa-Park confirmed a corresponding report from the Alsatian internet portal rue89-strasbourg.com to our newspaper: There are considerations for a "long-term, tourist, economic and cultural" development in the border region. However, details - such as a schedule and cost plan - would not yet be available. "At the moment, the project is in an early phase of idea development and is therefore neither further specified in terms of content nor size," said park spokeswoman Diana Reichle on Tuesday.

As the location for the project called "Europa Vallé", (Europe Valley), the company has an area between the municipalities of Sundhausen and Diebolsheim in mind that is one and a half times the size of Europa-Park. According to research by French media, a leisure village, hotel and residential units as well as a "nature park" with regional products are planned.

According to rue89strasbourg.com, high-ranking politicians from structurally weak Alsace already wrote in a letter to company boss Michael Mack at the end of November, signalling their willingness to bring the project along. According to this, Jean-Marc Willer, President of the Erstein Association of Municipalities, described the project as "an extraordinary opportunity" that "fully supports the region".

Environmental regulations should not be an insurmountable hurdle, since the region is mainly used to grow grain. The farmers, on whose land the holiday complex is to be built, are not very enthusiastic. They criticize that they have been informed of the plans by the media and consider their existence to be threatened. The "Europa Vallé" is said to have already been the subject of a meeting of the Bas-Rhin prefecture. A representative of the agricultural sector, who has participated in the media, sees major changes coming to the region: "In addition to the 150 hectares of agricultural land, there will be environmental balances, a road and bicycle network and other infrastructure measures. The impact on agricultural holdings will be enormous . "

The planning area is located west of Rust, less than five kilometers as the crow flies from Europa-Park. In this context, the company's cable car plans are discussed again. When they were presented at the end of 2018, a holiday village was already being discussed as the "end station" to the left of the Rhine. As is well known, the new means of transport met with fierce resistance from conservationists who saw the sensitive areas of Taubergießen and Ile de Rhinau under threat, which is why the project was put on ice again. The plans for the "Europa Vallé", however, were intensively pursued after research by the Alsatian media.

The company from Rust is now waiting for the local elections in France for further steps, it says on the Internet portal. In two weeks, new councillors will be elected all over the country, which in turn will determine the new mayors. The current Rhinau city hall chief, Jean-Paul Roth, is in any case positive about the hotel construction plans, as he makes clear to the press representatives: "It will undoubtedly be something extraordinary." The main hope in Alsace is for an economic upswing and the creation of new jobs.
Obviously, Europa-Park is now increasingly focusing on Alsace as an expansion target: at the beginning of the year, the Mack owner's family announced plans to buy the Ollwiller castle and winery near Mulhouse. It is also certain that the multimedia subsidiary of the Europa-Park, Mack-Media, is planning to open a branch in Plobsheim. 50 jobs are to be created there.

Source Lahrer Zeitung
 
Are we all hoping this will eventually turn into a 2nd theme park gate?

Something like a European Animal Kingdom park would work, but obviously that's a new type of business.
A deal with Universal for a best of park (Potter, Nintendo, Jurassic World etc.) and re-entry intot the European market; and Disneyland Paris would really have cause to be worried.

They are a company with ambition... I wonder how big their ambition is ?
 
Mack have trademarked "Europa Valley" - we've previously heard this as the project name for the Holiday Village in France. A sign we might actually see movement on the Center-Parc EP style in the near future.
A company in the Europa-Park group of companies has registered the term "Europa Valley" as a trademark. This could be the name of a project by the amusement park to build a holiday complex similar to Center Parcs in Alsace.

A new trademark application from the Europa-Park area could provide information about the progress of the resort's expansion plans that have been announced for a long time. The term "Europa Valley" was registered as a trademark by Mack Media & Brands GmbH & Co KG at the German Patent and Trademark Office. In the past, the company has already registered brands such as "Traumatica" for the Europa-Park Halloween event or "Veejoy" for the Europa-Park streaming service.

“Europa Valley” has been registered as a word mark in, among other things, classes intended for the operation of a campsite, the rental of holiday homes, services relating to leisure activities and the booking of travel.

It is possible that "Europa Valley" is the name of a planned holiday resort around five kilometers from Europa-Park in France. Europa-Park Managing Director Roland Mack had already mentioned a similar project in 2018.

At that time, Mack spoke of a facility similar to that of Center Parcs, which was to be built in Alsace. The plans were addressed at a press conference on a proposed cable car that would connect Europa-Park and France. The approximately 15-minute cable car ride should not only bring guests of the amusement park to the potential holiday village for overnight stays, but also serve as a means of transport for Europa-Park employees commuting from France.

The plans for a cable car drew strong criticism from conservationists who saw the sensitive areas of Tauberguss and Ile de Rhinau threatened. While the project for a cable car was put on hold for the time being, according to the Alsatian media, the plans for a holiday resort had already been pushed ahead intensively.
 
The French locals are not best pleased by the idea of the holiday village/EP centre parcs...

Further protests are being made against the "Europa-Valley" in Diebolsheim, Alsace, planned by the Europapark in Rust. Citizens' initiatives have started a petition.

In view of climate change and the loss of species, a "second" Europa Park on the French side is no longer up to date, criticize nature and environmental organizations on both sides of the Rhine. Hundreds of people have already joined a petition launched by the southern Baden citizens' initiative "That's it! No to the Europa Valley!" is supported. According to Sonja Kohler-Bellemare from the initiative, the interest in preventing the major tourist project is enormous.

The petition was initiated by the Alsatian citizens' initiative "Collectif Le Chaudron des alternatives". She wants to prevent the construction of the "Europa-Valley". This offshoot of Europa-Park is to be built on the French side of the Rhine and, with an area of 150 to 250 hectares, will even be larger than the existing Europa-Park.

According to plans from 2018, the Europapark management wants to connect both parks with a cable car over the Rhine and the strictly protected Tauber Gießen nature reserve. This triggered a large wave of protests from residents and environmental organizations in both countries. At the time, a 5-year moratorium was agreed to bring peace to the situation, which will now expire in 2023.

 
Going to be a killjoy and suggest that EP need to tread very carefully here. Much as I enjoy a cable car, the idea of constructing one that traverses a protected nature area towards a holiday village in an entirely different country is understandably going to require a hell of a lot of political manoeuvring and sensitivity.

Give us the monorail first!
 
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