OREANDA-NEWS. A memorandum of understanding has been sealed on board the Costa Favolosa between Costa Cruises, Italian company leading in Europe, and PortAventura World, one of Europe's most-visited amusement parks. 

Under the agreement, guests arriving in Barcelona on board Costa's ships will have exclusive entry to the park where, at the beginning of 2017, the much anticipated Ferrari Land is due to open. 

"Costa Cruises will be the only cruise company offering its guests the truly special experience that is guaranteed by the thrills at PortAventura World.  As an Italian company, we're also especially delighted about the forthcoming opening of Ferrari Land, in itself an adrenaline-thumping theme park based on a brand that is an Italian icon synonymous worldwide with Italian excellence.  This agreement simply confirms our constant commitment to innovate our product so as to offer our guests a vacation experience that is unique, memorable and unlike any other, increasing the value of our package and thus yielding additional benefits also for our commercial partners" said Costa Cruises SVP WorldWide Sales Massimo Brancaleoni.  

"We consider the partnership with Costa Cruises as a perfect opportunity of synergy with a leading European company and one of the greatest exponents of Italian excellence. We are convinced that Costa Cruises philosophy combines perfectly with PortAventura World due to the fact that both companies are strongly focused on offering exclusive experiences with deep Mediterranean roots. We expect this partnership to be very profitable for both parts because it creates a unique combination for the family target that both companies share" said PortAventura World General Manager Giovanni Cavalli. 

PortAventura World is the largest destination resort in Europe, having  welcomed over 60 million visitors in its 20-year history.  It is located in the heart of the Costa Daurada, not far from Barcelona and Tarragona, and near the resort towns of Vila-seca, Salou and Cambrils.  The range of leisure facilities on offer includes an amusement park – with incredible attractions arranged in fabulous "worlds" like Ancient China, Polynesia, Mexico and the Far West – and a water park.  Set to open in 2017, the new theme park Ferrari Land is described as "the single most important project in the history of PortAventura Resort".  This new park dedicated to the Prancing Horse will cover an area of  60,000 m? and feature a range of technology charged, pulse-pounding rides; one of the highlights will be the vertical accelerator, 112 meters tall, making it the highest roller coaster in Europe, on which you will be propelled vertically upwards and then plummet straight down with acceleration of 180 km/h in just 5 seconds, thus experiencing the same sensations as a Formula 1 driver. 

Until the end of 2017 Costa's ships will make approximately 250 calls in Barcelona; they will include the flagship Costa Diadema (132,500 gross tonnage and guest capacity of around 5000), which will be porting in the Catalan city every Monday. 

Today's agreement also provides for joint marketing and promotional activities designed to further enhance the value of their respective brands.