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Veremonte has added additional uncertainty to the future of the BCN World project, the largest holiday resort in Europe based in the Costa Daurada, near Tarragona. After a $6 billion investment, it will include – among other facilities – 6 mega-casino hotels, amusement parks and shopping malls. Veremonte – which was initially leading the project – announced that it could leave, depending on how the Catalan Government will develop the final Urban Plan and how it will set the conditions for the second phase of the casino licences' tender. In 2012, Veremonte had already reached an agreement with La Caixa bank to buy 500 hectares of the land. However, the company missed the first deadline and did not meet the second one (last December) to do so, arguing that the final Urban Plan had not yet been approved. The Catalan Government then jumped in and reached an agreement with La Caixa for the rights to buy the land and guarantee the project's continuation. Veremonte still continues to be linked to the project through the casino licence tender, for which it is running with Hard Rock and Melco.

Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari Formula One Team Driver, together with the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, have set on Thursday the symbolic first stone of the company’s first theme park in Europe, which will be an expansion of PortAventura, the main amusement resort in Catalonia, located on the Costa Daurada and near Tarragona. Ferrari Land is expected to be ready by the end of 2016, after an initial investment of €100 million. It is likely to become PortAventura’s main attraction and is expected to make the Catalan holiday and amusement resort reach 5 million visitors per year. Once Ferrari Land is operational, it will employ about 150 people, in addition to PortAventura’s staff. The project also includes a 5-star hotel themed around the Ferrari brand, but this will be built during a second stage.

The Province of Girona, in the north eastern part of Catalonia, contains 13 restaurants which among them have 17 Michelin stars, thus making it home to some of the best restaurants in the world. In fact, Girona is the area with the highest Michelin star to population ratio (one star for every 44,000 inhabitants), in the world, ahead of Paris, Rome or London. On top of this, Girona hosts what was awarded Best Restaurant in the world in 2013 by the English magazine 'Restaurant Magazine' and it has been among the top 3 for the last decade: El Celler de Can Roca. In an attempt to raise awareness of its culinary success, all establishments in Girona have united under the brand "Girona Territori d'Estrelles" (Girona Land of Stars).

The Catalan Government announced it will bring the High-Speed Train to Girona Costa Brava Airport thanks to an investment of €8 million. On the one hand, the tourism and economic sectors in Girona have celebrated the agreement because the construction will connect the airport to the city of Barcelona, to Barcelona El Prat Airport, to Figueres and to Southern France. On the other hand, High-Speed train experts from the University of Girona (UdG) are sceptical about the performance of these trains at Girona Costa Brava Airport because of the low volume of passengers and the profile of low-cost travellers.

PortAventura announced it will start the construction of the amusement area devoted to Ferrari in May, with the objective of finishing work around a year-and-half later. FerrariLand will be part of PortAventura and will also be the first theme park of the Italian car brand in Europe, adding to the park it has in Abu Dhabi. It will be built in Salou, located in Catalonia’s Costa Daurada, near Tarragona and Reus. The new area will come after a €100 million investment. In addition, in the coming  months it should be confirmed whether the $6 billion BCN World resort, with Las Vegas-style hotels and casinos, but also with theatres and conference centres, is to be developed in the area. PortAventura also announced it is about to unveil its first 5-star hotel, coinciding with the theme park’s 20^th anniversary.

The Costa Brava-based Cap Roig's music festival will hold its 15^th edition from 10 July to 16 August. Many international and local artists will take part in the event which will start with a performance by one of the greatest exponents of British pop-rock, Sting. The following day, American singer-songwriter Ben Harper will be on stage playing with his legendary band, The Innocent Criminals, in their first tour together for seven years. The festival will also host other big names of international renown such as Lady Gaga & Tony Bennett, Rosario, Antonio Orozco, Julieta Venegas, Miguel Bosé, Passenger and Macaco. Among the featured Catalan artists will be: Mishima with Joan Miquel Oliver, Blaumut, Els Amics de les Arts and Núria Graham. The festival will end with Alejandro Sanz's performance.

Carnival time is here and Catalonia is ready to let its hair down. From the 12^th to the 18^th of February many Catalan cities and towns will be submerged in an explosion of colour: ‘Carnestoltes’. The origin of this eagerly awaited tradition goes back to the early Middle Ages, when Christians enjoyed a few days of debauchery leading up to Lent, the 40-day period of fasting and pious behaviour. Despite conflicting views about the etymology of the word ‘Carnestoltes’, credit usually goes to the Latin form ‘carns toldrem’ (‘farewell to flesh’). One of the biggest carnivals in Catalonia is held in Sitges, a coastal town with about 30,000 inhabitants 30km south of Barcelona, which expects nearly 300,000 visitors during the parades next Sunday and Tuesday.

A site known as the home of the best ancient Greek ruins outside of Greece is to be upgraded to improve access for visitors. The ruins were originally built in 575BC and work to develop the site has been ongoing for more than 20 years. The 2,500-year-old Empúries site on the Costa Brava will now host parking and leisure facilities after a deal was struck between the Catalan Ministry of Culture and L’Escala’s Town Hall. Cars will now be removed from the site and facilitated at a new 532 space carpark with more efficient traffic management. The new agreement also allows for the construction of a new recreational area and a drop-off point for buses and coaches. 

2,160,646 passengers passed through Girona Costa Brava Airport in 2014, a 21.1% decrease over 2013. This figure, according to Aena, the Spanish Airport Authority, is the lowest since the low-cost Irish airline, Ryanair, began operating at the airport in 2004. From the record breaking 5.5 million passengers in 2008, the infrastructure has suffered six consecutive years of decline, coinciding with Ryanair’s arrival at Barcelona El Prat and the increase of its operation from Catalonia’s main airport.However, the 2014 data report from Aena showed that 90,364 tonnes of air freight were transported from Girona airport, an increase of 97.3% over the previous year.

The Catalan Government presented this week a first draft of the urban plan that is developing for the 800 hectares surrounding PortAventura theme park, in the Costa Daurada, near Tarragona. The $6 billion holiday resort BCN World is supposed to be built in this area, which is now being promoted by the Catalan Executive itself after the private investor Veremonte did not meet the final deadline for buying the land in December. The urban plan foresees towers of 20 to 25 floors and the construction of 500,000 square metres of tourist and residential-use areas between the Las Vegas style casinos and the beach. Veremonte and its partners Melco, Hard Rock, Caesar’s Entertainment, Melià and Value Retail continue to be involved in the project, along with other investors such as Investindusrial (which owns PortAventura), Ferrari (which wants to build its first European theme park there) and Perelada (which owns other casinos and luxury hotels in Catalonia).

Veremonte has decided not to buy the land to build the macro-casino and holiday resort yet and it will wait until it has a better knowledge of the town-planning project's details, which are currently being defined by the public authorities. The main company behind the holiday resort had an exclusivity right to purchase some 500 hectares of land from a Caixabank's subsidiary until December 10 at midnight for €380 million. Veremonte has confirmed it will continue to work on the $6 billion BCN World project with Hard Rock, Melco, Value Retail, Melià and Caesars Entertainment and it could buy the land at a later stage. After knowing about Veremonte's decision, the Catalan Government announced it had reached an agreement with Caixabank to manage the purchase of 150 hectares of land during 18 months at no cost, allowing other companies to buy some plots. They have also confirmed that the project will carry on, "with or without Veremonte". The first version of the town-planning project should be issued in later January and the definitive version should be approved during the summer months, in order to allow construction as from autumn 2015. 

Cirque du Soleil will be performing in PortAventura at least until 2020, the popular family resort and theme park on the Costa Daurada (Catalan for the Golden Coast) in Tarragona, southern Catalonia. The five-year partnership was announced this week, after last season’s success. The internationally renowned Canadian performance troop made their debut at the Catalan theme-park last summer, with their show ´Koozo´ in July and August. Following its success they decided to base their summer productions there until 2020. In 2015 they will perform ´Amaluna´, a show that combines a coming-of-age tale with a love story. The show will coincide with the 20^th anniversary of the theme park, one of the most popular family destinations in Europe. 

Beyond Barcelona, other port cities in Catalonia that are also cruise ship destinations are closing the 2014 season with positive results. The Ports of Palamós and Roses in Girona’s Costa Brava (northern Catalonia), and that of Sant Carles de la Ràpita in the Ebro Delta (south of Tarragona Province) will be closing this season having brought a total of 43,000 passengers on 50 cruise ships. This will have generated a total of €3 million for the local economy. The Port of Palamós has had its second best season in history with 38,616 passengers and 36 cruises. The Port of Roses closed the season in October with 10 cruise ships bringing a total of 3,700 passengers, while that of Sant Carles de la Ràpita brought a total of 4 ships and half a thousand passengers to the region. The city of Tarragona, which received approximately 2,000 passengers in 2013, is hoping to double these figures for 2014. Moreover, the Port Authority of Tarragona is planning to build a new terminal over the next four years, with a goal of bringing 40,000 or 50,000 passengers per year when completed.

On Monday, the 'World Travel Market' (WTM) opened in London and Catalonia is participating with a 300 m² exhibition stand promoting a variety of its tourist destinations and highlighting its uniqueness with areas as diverse as the city of Barcelona, the Costa Brava and the Penedès wine region. The WTM is highly important in the tourism and travel industry, and represents a crucial opportunity for business networking and attractive investment. Catalonia’s participation strengthens its growing importance as a holiday destination for British tourists, who have increased by 4% and represent revenue of €1 billion in the first 10 months of 2014, the second largest after the French. Through the event, Catalan companies will mix with 5,000 other organizations from 200 countries, with an estimated 50,000 professionals from the industry participating.

Four Barça players have been shortlisted for the FIFA Ballon d’Or 2014. They are Leo Messi, Neymar Jr, Andrés Iniesta and Javier Mascherano. FIFA and France Football magazine announced on Tuesday morning those players nominated for the award, which is given to the best player of the calendar year. The final decision will be taken by the coaches and captains from every single national team around the world as well as by journalists from France Football via a system of votes. On the 1^st of December the final shortlist of the three finalists will be made public. The winner of the Ballon d’Or 2014 will be revealed on the 12^th of January, 2015 during a gala ceremony which will take place in Zurich.