Toledo (Spain) (AFP)
The French amusement park Puy du Fou presented Friday before 4,000 people his first show abroad in Spain near Toledo, where he will open a park in 2021, first of its international expansion projects.
"Our goal by 2030 is to have four Puy du Fou parks" in the world, told AFP the president of the Vendée group Nicolas de Villiers.
In addition to France and Spain, the two following parks will be created "probably in Central Europe and presumably in China," he added.
About 4,000 spectators watched the premiere of the Spanish show, tracing on a five-hectare stage with an artificial lake the episodes of Spanish history since the thirteenth century.
In a reconstructive setting Toledo, the ancient Spanish capital, more than 180 dancers, horsemen and acrobats chained for 70 minutes paintings evoking the Visigothic kings, the Moorish period, Isabel the Catholic, Charles V, Cervantes, Dali or civil war, on background of water games, lights and choreographies that made the success of the park located in Vendée (western France).
"We address the Spaniards before addressing foreign tourists" because the Puy du Fou wants a park "rooted" in the culture of the countries in which they will establish, said de Villiers.
"It was a challenge for the French to capture the soul of Toledo" but this city "was for us the choice of the heart", added at the end of the show his father, the politician Philippe de Villiers, creator of first park.
The leaders of Puy du Fou had also considered Tuscany (Italy) and the region of Salzburg (Austria) but the climate, the potential of Spain - the second largest tourist destination with 83 million visitors in 2018 - and the enthusiasm of local authorities tipped the scales in favor of Toledo.
Total investment will reach € 242 million over ten years and 690 direct jobs to be created in 2021.
By setting up a 160-hectare site on the outskirts of this city that attracts three million visitors a year, 60% of whom are Spaniards, the park aims first at the local clientele, but expects 20% of visitors foreigners, more than in France (15%), had explained the leaders of the park in June.
They hope to attract at least a million visitors in the year of opening the park proper in 2021, and 60,000 spectators for the 15 performances of the first show. More than 50% of the places available for these shows have already been sold, according to the organizers.
The environmental impact of the site on this very arid region has been criticized by local ecologists but the park has invested in a sewage treatment and rainwater recovery system.
Far behind Disneyland and its 15 million annual visitors, the Puy du Fou is neck and neck in France with Parc Astérix and Futuroscope, with more than two million admissions in 2018. Its turnover was 112 million euros in 2018.
© 2019 AFP