salou

Police detained man over violent death at hotel

Coastal municipalities to look for new opportunities to welcome visitors throughout the year

Man testifies in court amid heavy police presence, including one helicopter

Local mayors urge government to assist with modifying plan to allow recreational tourist center project to resume

The top lucky number was 26590, awarding up to €388 million in the country

Catalan resorts are cracking down on so-called binge tourism but it has come at a cost

The town holds its winter festival with a 28 float parade

The Spanish police has detained three suspected jihadists this Monday morning accused of being part of a DAESH cell in Badalona, Salou, and Tangier. In Catalonia the arrested are two men aged 21 and 32 of Moroccan nationality. In addition, with the collaboration of Morocco's General Directorate for Territorial Surveillance (DGST) a member of the same cell has also been detained in Tangier. The two arrested in Badalona and Salou were in regular contact with other members in Spain now arrested for belonging to DAESH, and also with important members of this terrorist organization in Syria and Iraq, where, according to Spanish police, they were supposed to go to fight in “jihad” and die as martyrs. 

Ferrari Land, Europe's first theme park in Europe entirely dedicated to the Ferrari, will open its doors this Friday. Located next to Port Aventura, in Vila-Seca, a town in the southern Catalan region of Tarragona, Ferrari Land represents a €100 million investment, occupies 70,000 m2, and includes 11 rides and attractions. The most popular is the ‘Red Force’, Europe’s largest and fastest roller-coaster. In fact, it is a vertical accelerator which goes from 0 to 180 km/h in five seconds, simulating the acceleration of a Formula 1 race car. More than 250 media from all over the world attended the inauguration this Thursday, including Ferrari’s founder son, Pietro Ferrari. With this new attraction, Port Aventura World, which includes Port Aventura and the adjacent Caribbean World water park, is set to boost the Vila-Seca area and turn Port Aventura World into a leading family destination.

The Recreational and Tourist Centre of Vila-seca and Salou, the project which was originally named ‘BCN World’, will start to be built in summer 2017. The resort will be located between these two villages – Vila-seca and Salou – on the Costa Daurada, near PortAventura theme park. After numerous reorganisations and changes in the legislation, the project’s hotel surface area will decrease by 29.2% in comparison with the urban plan approved in 2015. The surface area designated for gambling and amusement activities will ultimately be 30,000 m² instead of 60,000 m². The surface area for commercial use and that designated for theatres and congresses has been kept the same. Thus, the total surface area of the project will be 750,000 m² rather than 1,000,000m². The project is expected to receive €2,500 million in private investment and will generate 10,000 jobs when fully operational.

Illegal street trading, known in Catalonia as ‘top manta’, is an old and complex problem in many tourist towns in Catalonia. But councils feel alone and powerless when they try to deal with it. The recent death of Senegalese citizen Mor Sylla in Salou during a police operation against illegal vending has raised the alarms about a phenomenon that has economic, social and security implications. The mayors of Barcelona, Roses, Sitges and El Vendrell, some of the towns most adversely affected by this issue, have urged the Catalan and Spanish governments to intervene because this “is not a local problem” but a national, and even international one.

In an operation against illegal street vendors, most of whom are from Western Africa and have no legal residence permit, a Senegalese citizen aged 50 died after falling from the third floor of an apartment building in Salou, an important tourist town on the Costa Daurada. According to the Catalan Police – called Mossos d’Esquadra – the victim accidentally died while trying to escape from agents who had just broken into the apartment. When police tore down the front door, the victim tried to escape via the balcony but fell to his death without the agents having even the time to “interact” with him, stated the Mossos Spokesperson. However, the Senegalese community believe the police officers threw the victim off the balcony, killing him. Violent protests erupted immediately, with around 150 Senegalese nationals throwing stones at police and intermittently obstructing the railway which crosses Salou.

Veremonte has walked out on the BCN World project, the largest holiday resort in Europe based in the Costa Daurada, near Tarragona, as first announced by the Catalan Business Minister, Felip Puig, on Thursday and later confirmed by the company itself. However, Puig has assured that this will not impede the project's continuation as companies such as Melco, Hard Rock, Grup Peralada and Value Retail remain committed to it. Veremonte did not provide any further details about its decision. The investment company was initially leading the initiative and had reached an agreement with La Caixa bank to buy 500 hectares of land in 2012. However, it missed the final deadline last December to do so and the Catalan Government had to jump in to guarantee the project's continuation, reaching an agreement with La Caixa for the land. However, Veremonte was still linked to the initiative through the casino licences' tender, which it bidding for in partnership with Hard Rock and Melco.