¿Por qué está esto en el hilo de GB?
Queríamos debatir cómo un proyecto tan ambicioso como el de Bedfort complementa y es perfectamente compatible con la adquisición de PortAventura. Creíamos que esto podría incluirse en el debate actual. Sin embargo, si se considera más apropiado tratarlo en un hilo aparte, agradeceríamos que los administradores o cualquier otro miembro de este foro indicaran qué hilo utilizar. Muchas gracias.
Nearly 19 million out of that 95 million are British, making Brits the highest group by proportion of visitors to Spain. Why would universal want them going to a Spanish park when by all accounts they’d like them to stay here and go to a British park?
Spain is a two hour flight away, flights are also notoriously cheap. We haven’t seen universal open up a similar sized park that’s a two hour flight away from their Orlando location in their home country so I don’t see why they’d do that here in Europe.
Maybe a smaller park later down the line like the kids thing they’re doing by the UK is obviously going to be their main base.
We get where you're coming from, but we have to respectfully push back on the idea that PortAventura doesn't fit the Universal 'mold' or strategy.
Regarding the UK market: You mentioned those 19 million British tourists in Spain. The key here is why they travel. They are looking for the full vacation package: Sun, Beach, Gastronomy, and Leisure. A park in Bedford can offer world-class Leisure, but it can’t provide the other three. PortAventura offers all four. That's why the destination works so well.
And about the resort being 'too big' or 'untypical' for a Universal buy... we have to remember history. It was Universal itself that transformed PortAventura into a destination resort in the first place!
They built the first on-site hotels.
They built the water park (Costa Caribe).
They created unique, world-class attractions (like Templo del Fuego) that are still iconic today.
PortAventura was designed to be their European flagship. We can’t forget that Universal didn't leave because the park wasn't working—it was highly profitable. They were forced to sell due to the Vivendi financial crisis back in the US. They never wanted to leave. In our eyes, buying it back isn't acquiring a 'strange' asset; it's just reclaiming the resort they built.