ARCHIVED - Paramount theme park is star attraction for Murcia stand at Fitur

The theme park will be promoted in 3-D at the Madrid tourism fair

The Paramount theme park project is to occupy 50 square metres in the Region of Murcia’s stand at the FITUR international tourism fair in Madrid next week, making it the region’s star attraction at the event.

According to Pedro Alberto Cruz, the regional minister for Tourism and Culture, the park’s 3-D display is “absolutely impressive” and “an attraction in its own right”. Visitors to the exhibition will be able to prebook one of the ten minute slots to undertake the Paramount tour on the stand. The minister also believes that Paramount’s decision to attend the FITUR event has been influenced by the fact that work on the site is now starting, and their presence in Madrid marks the beginning of a new phase in public relations activity, vital to promote the attraction to the tourism market before it is built.

The Paramount presentation, which was created in Los Angeles, consists of a 3-D virtual tour of the park, including all the attractions and the five different areas of the complex “exactly as they will be in reality”.
Meanwhile, in an effort to allay underlying fears regarding the financing of the mega-project, Jesús Samper, the president of Proyectos Emblemáticos Murcianos (Premursa), maintains that he is still negotiating with eight foreign investment funds, although when pressed he declined to reveal their names or any other details for reasons of confidentiality: the funds concerned, he says, prefer to adopt an “extremely prudent” attitude with regard to their future plans.

Although this reluctance to disclose the names of potential investors is causing a considerable degree of scepticism among members of the public, Sr Samper is not bothered: investment funds generally like to keep a low profile, he explains, and he recognizes that he shouldn’t even have informed the press that at one point Paramount itself was considering investing in the project. At the moment, he confirms, the leading investor in the project is still Premursa, with capital of 37 million euros, and he is not willing to risk losing future investors by disclosing their identities.

Despite the apparent uncertainty regarding how the project will eventually be financed, Sr Samper remains bullish. The financing of construction is more or less defined, he says, pointing out that if this were not the case then Premursa would not have awarded the construction contracts.

It is forecast that the construction phase will last between eighteen months and two years (although delays are provided for in the planning): within eight months it will be possible to see the first buildings going up on the complex, after the water, electricity and telephone infrastructures have been completed and security measures and works cabins are in place. According to this schedule, construction will begin in August, with the works to start installing utilities infrastructure beginning soon.

The total cost of construction is now estimated at 390 million euros, and the plan is for this to be covered by 100 million from equity capital, 130 to 140 million in bank loans and the remaining 150 million or so from the sale of plots and premises in the Lifestyle Center. These plots will be occupied in the future by hotels, shops and restaurants, and according to Sr Samper there are already retail chains and hotels in contact with Premursa to enquire about availability. The hotel groups concerned have received invitations to visit the stand at FITUR in order to learn more about the project and continue negotiations.

Scepticism among the general public has been heightened by the collapse of the Eurovegas project in the outskirts of Madrid, but Sr Samper argues that in fact this will be beneficial to the Paramount project, since it is now the only one of its type and size in Spain, capable of generating both employment and wealth in the Region of Murcia.

In an ideal world the Paramount theme park would be favoured by the opening of the new airport in Corvera, he adds, but there is no reason why the venture should not be successful even if Corvera were to remain closed. The new airport was one of the aspects included in the original presentation of the Paramount project worldwide, and he is still hopeful that the conflict between the regional government and Aeromur can be resolved, enabling passengers to land fifteen minutes closer to the theme park by road than the current airport at San Javier.

In fact, although Paramount would benefit from the Corvera airport, Sr Samper believes that the airport will benefit more from the Paramount park, since it will be handling a large new volume of international visitors attracted by the Alhama complex.

Fitur is the most important tourism fair of the year in Spain and indeed is the point at which the first contacts for the Paramount Murcia project were first made, exactly four years ago, when Pedro Cruz returned from Fitur with the exciting news that Murcia would be the site for a Paramount themed attraction.

Click to see full history of the Paramount Park project in Murcia.

Image: Copyright Murcia Today.