ARCHIVED - Pedro Cruz and Jesús Samper visit America to seek Paramount financing

The Tourism Consejero says the visit was "very positive."

He continued to criticise those who question this project.

News last week that Madrid has been chosen to host the Eurovegas leisure complex and that Barcelona will be constructing a massive leisure complex to compete with Eurovegas, has provoked debate within the Region of Murcia as to whether the construction of these two massive leisure complexes will create a competitive situation for the Region of Murcias own leisure project, the Paramount Park, which is projected for the Alhama de Murcia area.

Whilst some voices questioned whether the scale of the other attractions would dwarf the Paramount complex and minimise the impact of its offering, the regional Minister for Culture and tourism, Pedro Alberto Cruz, sees no such obstacle to obtaining the required investment.
When questioned about the subject yesterday at a press conference, he said that he viewed it as being a very positive development, since it confirmed that theme parks were once again becoming fashionable, and that far from being unviable and of little interest to the general public, these two developments highlighted the absolute viability of the theme park concept.

When the Region of Murcia first presented its plans to build the Paramount Park in 2010, it had been, "absolutely innovative" and, "at that moment the viability and the relevance of this tourism model were called into question, but these new developments show that not only have parks now become the fashion, but that they have become a cornerstone of regional tourism for tourist-orientated areas of Spain."
He said, that in his opinion, the schemes were , "absolutely complementary" to each other and that although he understood that this type of construction was not, "to everyones taste, " did not "understand the controversy provoked by this type of development,  as they generate wealth and economic productivity."

He then went on to criticise "those who maintain that we can´t emerge from this crisis by making cuts, but at the same time, criticise this type of tourism development."

He didn´t know, he said, "what type of magic formula those who were criticising the economic cuts but opposing tourism developments" proposed.
He then went on to defend the Paramount project, which would he said, "start to materialise in 2 months" and for which he had recently travelled to New York, along with Jesús Samper, to present to potential American investors.

He classified his visit to America as "very positive" and said that the project had been well received and was currently " being assessed and studied."
The project was continuing on schedule and on course, "everything is going on course and in the right direction and at the right speed and in two months time the works will begin, as Jesús Samper, the promotor, indicated that they would."

Its easy to understand the frustration that the Minister must be feeling about the lack of available financing for this project, and the fact that the necessary billion euros or so has still not materialised.
The project is being questioned as two and a half years have now elapsed and the general public are starting to doubt that this project will come to fruition, and the Minister must understand the frustration of the 25% of the Spanish population who are unemployed, desperate for work, and are questioning whether this will ever happen.

Whilst few doubt that should the necessary money be obtained, this project will create the levels of employment projected and give an economic stimulus to the region, there are also severe economic issues within Spain, and national issues exacerbated by the construction implosion which make investors more cautious than they would have been pre-2008.

Projected visitor figures MUST be questioned, potential returns questioned, infrastructural and accessibility provisions questioned, tastes of the public and the target markets for visitors questioned and analysed, competition analysed,changing tourism models analysed and questions asked about whether the region can deliver enough visitors, or has enough complementary attractions to attract sufficient people to make the project rewarding for those investing their money.

There are a lot of factors which must be assessed before we all get too excited and start shouting about this project, and most of us reporting on this project have no political agenda to put out hype or propaganda and can only report on the facts as viewed from a dispassionate, non-biased point of view and from the point of view of someone with nothing to gain financially from creating smoke and mirrors.

Yes of course, as a news product which depends entirely on its own ability to generate advertising revenue and receives not one cent, and even less support from the regional government, we could be hyping this project and trying desperately to flog advertising on the back of it, but in this game longevity, and the trust of the readers is more important, and whilst its tempting to do what some of the papers are doing and try to cash in on this project, we would prefer to wait until the financing is confirmed before permitting a single estate agent to publicise the bargain properties which are available at the moment close to the park on our Paramount Park information relating to this project.

Too many expats have been lied to in the past by those looking to make a quick buck, who disappear when the smoke clears, and leaves those who have made long-term commitments to this region and their clients behind, and this product has no intention of going anywhere for a very long time, so will continue to say,

" The Paramount Park will be good for the region, good for employment, good for all of us, and WHEN the financing has been obtained, we will be very happy to promote the pants off it along with the rest, Until then, it will be a very good project for the region WHEN the financing has been confirmed."
 

Image: Pedro Cruz defending the Paramount Park project in the Regional Assembly.