Operator News
Spain – Hard Rock has 2020 vision to break ground in Spain
By Phil - 8 April 2019
The construction of the first phase of the Hard Rock project in Vila Seca and Salou could be underway in just over a year.
The first phase of the Hard Rock Entertainment World complex in Vila-Seca and Salou could begin construction in May 2020, just two years after it was given the green light by the Government of Catalonia. The first phase of the project will include the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. Operators involved in the project provided the deadline in a meeting with the members of the Tourist and Recreation Complex (CRT). The new park, which will take over from BCN World, will be one of the largest leisure complexes in Europe once it is complete.
The Hard Rock project will start with a first phase costing around €665m which includes a thousand room hotel, a casino, a shopping avenue as well as leisure and entertainment facilities. In addition, it is expected that, in parallel with the construction work, the land and the necessary services will be adapted for purpose. The first phase will include the construction of the hotel in the shape of the iconic Hard Rock guitar along with the only casino permitted on the complex which will encompass an area of up to 10,000 square meters.
In May 2018 The Government of Catalonia declared via its Official Gazette that it had given Hard Rock Entertainment World permission to build a casino and leisure complex in Vila-Seca and Salou. The casino will be called Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tarragona, España. The Hard Rock Entertainment World complex will include two hotels with over a thousand rooms, a large shopping area, along with entertainment facilities, and the casino. The casino could have as many as 1,200 slot machines and 100 table games making it one of the largest casinos in Europe. The company is reportedly planning to invest as much as €2 billion into the scheme.
The project will consist of a unique combination of hotels and convention areas, with world-class entertainment, dining and shopping. The construction of the CRT will generate between 9,000 and 13,000 direct jobs during its construction, which will be phased in over a period of around six years according to a study released by the Faculty of Geography and Tourism at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (The public university of Tarragona) in March 2017. The study argues that, once the CRT is running at full capacity, it will generate between €3,900 and €5,400m per year in the Camp de Tarragona region of Catalonia. The study also found that the addition of the new complex could add as many as 3 to 5m visitors to the area regardless of whether they stay overnight. These visitors could spend between €850m and €1,145m a year.
