Melco-Hard Rock abandoned Spain project to focus on Cyprus

Melco International Development and Hard Rock International (HRI) after signing officially for the upcoming €500 million casino resort in Cyprus “Europe’s largest integrated casino resort”, they have decided to abandon their involvement in the application for a casino resort in Catalunya, Spain.

On Friday, eleconomista.es a Spanish media outlet reported that the partners had withdrawn their interest to be the operator of the Center for Recreation and Tourism (CRT) project in Catalunya. The decision comes right before the June 30 deadline to present the final offers in order to obtain licences. They both said they are concentrating on separate ventures away from Spain leaving Genting and Grup Peralada as the only other interested group.

On Monday the two companies signed the contract to be the operators of the upcoming casino resort in Cyprus. The ceremony took place in Nicosia and the Commerce and Tourism Minister Lakkotrypis said “Our goal is the improvement of incoming tourism, increasing arrivals, and average spending per capita, and also to see this contribute to the ongoing efforts to address the problem of seasonality in the Cypriot tourism industry,” “Our other strategic objective was the creation of new jobs and additional tax revenue, supporting sectors that will be associated with the casino, and attracting further foreign investment.”

The licence will be valid for 30 years and the two companies will hold the monopoly over casino gambling in Cyprus for the first 15 years. The mammoth casino should be built by the first half of 2020 as per Andy Choy, the President of Melco’s Resorts and Entertainment Division.