Elysium City in Badajoz aims to have more visitors than Disneyland Paris

This project will build an amusement park, a digital theme park, an e-sports stadium, a water park, an area for music festivals, wellness clinics, a botanical garden, and casinos. To this leisure section we must add hotels, resorts, villas, shops, hospitals, universities and offices.

Overall, the business plan estimates a potential of 11.5 million visitors a year when the project is at peak performance. This figure is higher than the latest data available prior to the Covid-19 pandemic at Disneyland Paris, which had an influx of 9.75 million people in 2019, although in the past decade it changed some peak of 12.5 million visitors, according to the Statista website. In Spain, Port Aventura in Salou (Tarragona) closed 2022 attracting 5.1 million tourists. In the case of Parque Warner, it has influxes close to two million.

Of the 11.5 million visitors, Elysium City plans to have 5.5 million come to its amusement park, which could be linked to a video game company. He anticipates another five million arriving at his casinos and music festivals. Another 300,000 people would be attracted by wellness clinics and around 200,000 by sports (for example, in the marina area), students in educational centers and professionals in conventions. Finally, half a million fans would come to e-sports events and campuses.

That rate of visits would not arrive, at least, until six years after the first phase came into operation, which means 2031 at the earliest to reach those maximums.

In January, the Official Gazette of Extremadura published the Elysium management plan after more than four years of work by the Junta de Extremadura and protected by what is known as Legio (Law of Large Leisure Facilities in Extremadura).

Elysium City is located in Castilblanco, a remote town in Badajoz next to the García de Sola reservoir and adjacent to Cáceres, Toledo and Ciudad Real. For the developer company, this natural area is one of the strengths of the initiative, although it will have to convince large investors that this location can be successful. For example, Madrid is 215 kilometers away, of which 100 must currently be covered on the conventional N-502 road. This urban operation extends over 11.85 million m2, of which 5.8 million m2 are buildable. The construction of 18,812 hotel beds and 267,000 m2 of residential is contemplated.

Foundation stone

The company reported last week that it has submitted to the Castilblanco City Council the request to obtain the building license and is considering that in the coming weeks it can obtain municipal authorization, so that in May they would place the first stone in a symbolic act. The company has until July to start the development, according to the project approved by the Board.

In order to undertake the operation, Castilblanco Elysium Corporation –which is a small company– will have to convince one or more investors or operators of casinos or theme parks to face the multi-million dollar bill. 

Francisco Nuchera, the businessman in charge of that company, assured this newspaper at the beginning of the year that they work with several possible partners and, depending on which one, the configuration of Elysium may vary. "The project is chameleonic," he said.