NIEUWS, NIEUWTJES & OFFERTES; NOVELTIES

Paramounthas announced plans to build its first theme park in Spain in Alhama in Murcia. The park is expected to attract more than three million visitors a year.

The project statistics are impressive: the biggest leisure super complex in Spain, which will encompass the theme park and a LifeStyle Center, together covering more than 1.500.000 square metres.

The park will be divided into five different areas, with more than 30 attractions which will transport visitors to the most memorable scenes of Paramount films, movies like Titanic, Mission Impossible 4, Rango and Sleepy Hollow. There will be two themed hotels, and souvenir shops and restaurants designed to fit in with the theme of the Paramount park.

The complete adjacent complex, the Lifestyle Center, can be divided into three main areas: hotel complex, leisure zone and business zone. The plans include six hotels, the biggest convention centre in Murcia region, an open-air auditorium with capacity for an audience of 15,000 and a ‘street mall’-style commercial centre.

The total investment has been put at 1,094 million euros, explained Jesús Samper, Proyectos Emblemáticos Murcianos (PREMURSA) managing company President and Delegate Advisor, during the presentation of the project at the beginning of the month, an event also attended by the President of the Autonomous Community of Murcia, Ramón Luis Valcárcel, and Mike Bartok, Executive Vice-President of Paramount Licensing Inc. Of this amount, 50 per cent will come from own funds, while it is hoped the rest will come from the entrance of external capital.  

According to regional Government figures, the complex will create 16,500 jobs during the construction phase and 6,100 once it’s open, increasing the region’s GDP by two per cent.

Among the reasons for choosing Alhama as the park location are the 300 days a year of sunshine, the nearby beaches and the transport infrastructure: the new Murcia Region international airport, expected to open at the beginning of 2010, is just a short distance away. It is also predicted the high-speed rail link uniting Murcia with the principal Spanish capitals will be inaugurated in 2014, plus the area has excellent road communications with Madrid and the Mediterranean.

It is hoped the first stone of this major project will be laid next year, with a view a May 2015 opening.