ARCHIVED - The Paramount Park and Lifestyle Center presentation is on Tuesday 4th

Paramount Murcia, four investors are said to be showing interest including a Russian investor

Some of the biggest names in the Spanish leisure and tourism sector will be gathering next Tuesday in Madrid to find out more details about the business plan for the Paramount theme park in Alhama de Murcia.

The business plan has been drawn up over the last few months by Proforma and Corpfin Capital, and it is hoped that the details revealed at its presentation next week will attract further interest from possible investors. In recent months at least four big names have expressed an initial interest, including the Russian billionaire Oleg Boyko, one of the richest men in Eastern Europe, who made his fortune through a string of casinos and gaming clubs. Mr Boyko made a lightning visit to Murcia in July to find out more about the project.

The plan will be presented by Premursa, also known as Proyectos Emblemáticos Murcianos, who have bought the licence to promote the project for the next 30 years.

Following the presentation of the business plan in Madrid the project begins a "road show", during which it will be offered to most of the worlds main investment markets. It is estimated at this stage that the total investment needed is around 1,000 million euros, although figures of 1.3 billion have been quoted.

Construction work on the Paramount Park is set to begin in the spring, and will go hand in hand with the so-called "LifeStyle Center", where all the hotels and commercial premises alongside the theme park will be located. This area will actually be bigger than the Paramount Park, and will contain a conference centre with a seating capacity of 3,000 and an open-air auditorium with room for 15,000 people. The LifeStyle Center will operate as a separate entity from the Paramount Park.

Apart from attracting investors, another purpose of the presentation in Madrid is to find a company specializing in running this type of park who is willing to take part in the project. The intention is for the Alhama park to be "far superior" to Port Aventura, its main competitor in Spain, and for it to compete with Disneyland Paris. The attractions, many of them digital or audiovisual, will be based on some of Paramounts most successful films, including Titanic, The Italian Job and Tomb Raider.

Murcias regional minister for Culture and Tourism, Pedro Alberto Cruz, has reiterated his belief that the Paramount Project is one of the cornerstones of a new model of tourism and development in the Region. He even goes so far as to say that the start of building work on the site in March will mark the birth of a new Region of Murcia, and the beginning of an upsurge in the Regions economy. He is confident that the event on Tuesday will be enthusiastically supported by the select few who have been invited to attend.

A video is said to be a main marketing element of the campaign and will be made widely available following the presentation as the hunt for investment hits the road.

Sr Cruz has said this week that investors are not lacking and that there are four major parties interested in investing in the enterprise.

This week he announced a restructuring of the region´s tourism promotion body, aimed at commercialising the tourism offerings of the region more aggressively.

Corvera airport nears completion, with a capacity for 3.5 million passengers a year.

Businesses are ready and waiting.

All that´s missing are the investors.

For the full history of the Paramount Park and Lifestyle Center, click back to the coverage since the first announcement was made. Click Paramount Park and Lifestyle Center