Spanish tourism is set to get a boost in the coming decades thanks to the development of two brand new resorts - the Eurovegas casino in Madrid and the aptly named Barcelona World on the outskirts of Barcelona. Both resorts promise to offer guests a great experience in complexes that Europe has not seen the like of, but what exactly is on offer, how achievable are these aims and what can we really expect from these destinations once they are finally completed?
What can tourists and residents expect from these new developments?
Eurovegas is promoted as being exactly what people would expect from the name, a large Vegas style casino for Europe. This large facility is the creation of Sheldon Adelson, the head of the globally successful Las Vegas Sands company which has seen many profitable ventures including a casino in Singapore. Rather than being in the heart of Madrid, Adelson is looking to build the casino in the town of Alcorcon, just eight miles southwest of the city. Barcelona World will also be an out-of-town resort featuring a casino; however this is just the start of the amenities and features on offer here. Destined to be the largest family recreation resort in Europe, this complex will lie to the south of Tarragona and stretch over an ambitious six "continents" with separate resorts housing entertainment facilities and conference centres as well as the usual hotels and restaurants.
The road towards a completed Barcelona World and Eurovegas is long and treacherous.
The scale of these two Spanish projects is staggering and there is a lot of work and investment that will need to go into both ventures in order for them to achieve the success that they hope for. Eurovegas requires a sizable investment of 16.9 billion in order to create a resort to rival the others in Adelson's chain and this large sum is the first of many issues that the company has had to face. There has been strong opposition to the proposals of this casino, with the "anti Eurovegas" lobbyists only recently calling an end to their protest. Barcelona World on the other hand requires a comparatively low sum of 4.5 billion, but with six resorts to develop over 450 hectares these developers also have a long and difficult task ahead of them.
What does the future have in store for these projects?
Eurovegas may not be the most popular concept at the moment but if creates the 164,000 jobs that it claims than it could start to be welcomed by the local population. Barcelona World, however, may be proclaimed as being the greatest complex of its kind on the continent by the Generalitat of Catalonia but its impact on the neighbouring resort of Port Adventura remains to be seen. It will be a long time before we see either of these Spanish centres completed, Eurovegas for example does not expect to be at full capacity until 2025, but if they both achieve their aims and become the resorts they set out to be then their impact on Madrid and Barcelona will be substantial.
