Supplier News

Spain – CIRSA CEO casts doubt on future of BCN World

By Phil - 1 November 2016

The CEO of Spanish operator CIRSA has said that the company will not be taking part in the upcoming BCN World in Barcelona (now known as the Tourist and Recreation Complex).

Speaking at the 15th Jornadas Gresol conference, Joaquim Agut said the company could not ‘afford the luxury’ to take part in the new project.

Mr. Agut said that the project would only be viable if it receives 80,000 to 100,000 daily users which is a figure which the company says is unreachable. Agut made the comments in response to a question put forward by the President of the Chamber of Commerce of Tarragona, Andreu Suriol after taking part in the panel discussion entitled “Challenges and Economic Forecasts for Companies.”
“One thing is to want it and another thing is to play it and put money on it,” Mr. Agut said.

The business conference was held at the Hotel Gran Palas de La Pineda in Tarragona last week and is attended by members of some of the leading businesses in the region.

Work on the entertainment macro complex previously known as BCN World in Vila-seca and Salou will begin in the summer of 2017. The new project, which will be provisionally titled the Tourist and Recreation Complex (CRT), will be far less ambitious than envisaged and will house less casinos and hotels than previously announced.
According to President of Catalonia Oriol Junqueras a total of €2.5bn will be invested in the project which will create 10 thousand jobs. Gaming space, however, will be reduced drastically to just 4 per cent of the total space of the new project.

Currently there are four casinos in Catalonia and one or two more large scale casinos will be part of the newly established Tourist and Recreation Complex (CRT). Both Melco and Hard Rock are competing to operate a casino each while the Peralada Group in partnership with the Genting Group are also competing to be the sole operator and would run a single large scale casino in the resort.