In April, Ferrari Land was officially opened, a €100m ($106m, £85m) theme park and a third gate for PortAventura. The 70,000sqm (750,000sq ft) Ferrari-themed zone is the latest part of the Spanish destination resort’s €400m ($426m, £342m) expansion strategy, which hopes to boost annual visitor attendance to the 5 million mark.

Attractions Management met Mark Robinson, PortAventura’s chief commercial officer, at the new park, and asked him about the project.

What characteristics does Ferrari share with PortAventura and why did you think the two brands would complement each other?
Four years ago, we started talks with Ferrari. We’re owned by two private equity companies and they know Ferrari pretty well. One of our private equity partners is Italian, so there was a natural bond there. They started to talk and dream about putting Ferrari Land with PortAventura. We have the expertise in running theme parks in the Mediterranean, they’re an Italian brand, and they thought it would be a great fit. It was an honour to accept their offer. We made an agreement 2.5 years ago, and started building two years ago.

What is the structure of partnership?
Ferrari has been involved with the design of the project up until the opening of the park, and with all decisions of this type. We worked hand in hand with them on the designs and everything in the park.

We paid a licensing fee and the investment is all ours. It’s 100 per cent owned by the PortAventura Group. PortAventura also has exclusivity until 2030 to be the only Ferrari Land park in Europe, including Russia.

Do you hope to attract a new audience with Ferrari Land?
With Ferrari Land opening, we’re hoping to increase from 4 million visitors in 2016 to about 5 million visitors this year. Our main markets are the UK, France, Italy and Russia, but the Ferrari brand has power internationally to attract visitors from Germany, Benelux and the Nordic countries.

I’ve just done a presentation to a group of Silversea passengers who were mainly American press and major travel agents on a cruise ship here in Tarragona. The feedback they gave me was that Ferrari Land would also sell well in the US.

So yes, we want to expand our reach in Europe, but the mid-term plan is to look even further afield. There are 14 direct flights a day from the US into Barcelona. My main role when I joined was to internationalise the park, as it was traditionally a Spanish park. We currently have 48 per cent Spanish guests, and 52 per cent international.

Why did you want it to be a third gate?
We wanted to keep the area more exclusive with Ferrari so the experience is a little bit different. We’ll hold two different turns in high season, opening from 10am til 5pm and then 6pm til 1am. Each experience is completely different. In the evening when it’s dark, the lighting looks amazing, and I think that’s something we can do a lot of more of in the evening time. This also helps limit capacity and maintain the feel and the exclusivity of the place.

When we got feedback from the one-entrance-two-parks ticket at €60, the feedback was really positive and people thought it was great value for money.

Is there scope for expansion?
We achieved what we planned to do, and extended the area behind Red Force where we’ve added a stage. We learned going through the construction of the park that we could expand it, and we have got further plans and we have got some land for expansion. So yes, there is room to expand the park. Over the opening period, we’ll be gathering feedback from guests to find out if they want more family attractions, more adrenaline attractions, for example, and then we’ll be in a position to decide what’s next.

Do you have to consult with Ferrari if you expand?
No, it will be our decision if we want to add new rides, but Ferrari is great to work with.

What challenges have you encountered?
Throughout the process, timing has been the most difficult thing, as we had an opening date of 7 April that we had to meet. We’re happy with how it went in terms of the build, and we came in on time and on budget. With 50 companies and 550 people working on the project, it speaks to the success of our development team.

Now the theme park is open, it’s a bit like a new car, it needs wearing in. We will be able to gauge capacity and get feedback. What’s great is we have a lot of experienced PortAventura staff to help with the launch of the new park. Having two shifts is new to us as well, so there will be some fine tuning to do there to make sure it runs properly.

How long do you predict before you see an ROI?
Obviously with €100m investment we’re expecting an ROI, and that will come quickly when the park is filled. The bookings already look very good, and that’s what gives us confidence to already be considering expansion. Bookings for the convention centre have increased dramatically because of Ferrari Land, which we can use off-season for events. We can open up the area at night, and it’s the customer’s own private park.

In the future we want to extend the season, if not becoming year-round, then pretty close. It’s not as costly to keep Ferrari Land open as the other parks, and I think with the hotels, convention centre and three golf courses, we’re on to a good thing. We feel very positive because last year was a record year for PortAventura in terms of attendance and also marked our sixth consecutive year of financial growth.

How does this park differ from Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi?
It’s a different experience because Ferrari World is an indoor theme park, and we’re a destination, an open space. We also have built up the connection with Enzo Ferrari’s dreams, so we have the Ferrari Experience which is the heart of the attraction, offering an explanation of the brand, but also their dedication to innovation and technology and what makes that brand an icon of Italy.

It fits well in PortAventura, too, as we now have this Mediterranean themed area with the trattoria and Italian heritage and so on, which complements our other worlds in the park, such as our Mexico, China, Tibet and Indonesia-themed zones.

Ferrari wanted the theming to be very close to how it really looks in the village of Maranello, where Ferrari has been based since the 1940s.

It’s a completely different park to Ferrari World. The feeling we get talking to our guests is that it’s not like a theme park – it’s cool, it’s a neat place to hang out, it’s chilled and relaxed. It’s an experience.