Construction of FerrariLand to start in May, expanding Catalan theme park PortAventura

Barcelona (ACN).- PortAventura announced it will start the construction of the amusement area devoted to Ferrari in May, with the objective of finishing work around a year-and-half later. FerrariLand will be part of PortAventura and will also be the first theme park of the Italian car brand in Europe, adding to  the park it has in Abu Dhabi. It will be built in Salou, located in Catalonia’s Costa Daurada, near Tarragona and Reus. The new area will come after a €100 million investment. In addition, in the coming months it should be confirmed whether the $6 billion BCN World resort, with Las Vegas-style hotels and casinos, but also with theatres, luxury shops and conference centres, is to be developed in the area. This would transform Salou and Vila-seca into Europe's largest holiday resort. Besides, PortAventura also announced it is about to unveil its first 5-star hotel, coinciding with the theme park’s 20^th anniversary. This theme park, which is the only profitable theme park in Spain and one of the few in Europe, expects to host more than 4 million visitors this season. Since it opened its doors, more than 60 million people have enjoyed its attractions.

This year PortAventura, which is owned by Italian Investindustrial and American KKR, celebrates 20 years since it opened its doors with a €300 million initial investment and 2.8 million visitors in its first season. In the past two decades, the Catalan park has expanded and upgraded its facilities, investing more than €1 billion. It has added a water park, many hotels, 3 golf courses, a beach club, other new attractions, and has reached agreements with world famous companies such as Cirque du Soleil.

The Canadian circus group confirmed it will keep a permanent show in PortAventura at least until 2020. This new season it will present the ‘Amaluna’ show, which will start on 3 July, more than 3 months after the park’s season opening. Besides this, PortAventura has also renewed many of its other shows, releasing 19 new productions, which will be added to its regular shows. In addition, this season, the park will be open on 6 nights until 4am. It will have two open nights for Halloween and one for Christmas, for instance, as well as special events for Oktoberfest.

However, the greatest project is the construction of the first Ferrari theme park in Europe: FerrariLand, which will include a theme-based 5-star hotel. Construction work will start on 7 May and should be finished by the end of 2016 or early 2017. “We have a great deal of work to do in order to have a satisfactory product for the client and which is up to the high expectations” this project has raised, stated Luis Hérault, Director General of the Catalan theme park during the presentation of the new season on Wednesday. Once FerrariLand is completed, the park will still have 70 hectares of land left for future projects.

This season, the park expects to go beyond the 4 million visitor mark. In 2014, 64% of its clients were Spanish and 36% were foreigners. Furthermore, Hérault stated that their greatest challenge is to increase the number of international visitors by 40%. This year they have the additional challenge of compensating for the drop in Russian tourism (which plummeted due to the Ukrainian conflict). France and Spain will be the main markets for the park, which will release ads to increase itsthe presence in these markets. PortAventura will go on a media offensive in 6 different languages that will reach 15 different countries. 

In addition, this season, they aim to reach 1 million hotel night stays. The opening of the park’s first 5-star hotel, called La Mansión de Lucy, on 2 April is a strategic attempt to attract customers with high purchasing power. Hérault explained that the price for rooms will be set at around €500, but there will be discounts of up to 50% on early bookings. PortAventura has also added a new building to the Gold River Hotel, which adds 78 new high-standard rooms, fostering the strategic action to increase the park’s presence in the premium market.