New theme park to boost Spanish property market
The decision to build a major Paramount Pictures theme park in Murcia is set to boost the Spanish region’s real estate market, it is claimed.
After literally months of unsubstantiated gossip, Paramount Pictures has announced that it will be opening its first theme park in Europe with Murcia as the chosen location.
Darren Kyman, executive marketing director of Paramount Licensing, said that the agreement is to establish a large leisure park associated to Paramount Productions. He mentioned that whilst the Hollywood company would not be taking part as an investor in the project, the park would have the Paramount brand and they will license intellectual property from a vast library of films and provide conceptual master planning and design for the project.
Paramount Pictures is responsible for many hundreds of popular films including Grease, Crocodile Dundee, Wayne’s World, Forrest Gump, Mission Impossible, Star Trek, Lara Croft, Shrek and Transformers.
More details about the theme park will be announced in the next few months, with timescales and the exact site yet to be disclosed. Pedro Alberto Cruz, the regional councillor for Culture and Tourism in Murcia, described it a as ‘the most important project undertaken in the region ever’. There were reports that Cataluña and Andalucía were also bidding for the project, before Murcia was announced as the winner.
Chris Mercer, director of Murcia-based estate agents, Mercers, said it makes sense to locate the theme park in Spain, as it is the world’s third most visited country, recording 52.2 million visitors in 2009.
He added that Murcia also provides a warm Mediterranean climate for all year round theme park traffic, something that for example Disneyland Paris clearly lacks.
‘Undoubtedly this will have a positive impact on property values as the spotlight is thrown onto this wonderful region. Spanish media reports suggest the creation of 20,000 jobs, 15,000 new hotel beds and the attraction of almost three million tourists each year. I agree with Pedro Alberto Cruz that this is very exciting news and an important milestone for Murcia,’ said Mercer.
what a nice positive story! I can't wait to see the new theme park. i have some investments in los pandos in spain, and believe it is only going to grow as a great country!