Rising like a phoenix, construction of another brand new 4 star hotel in Benidorm is underway – which will be located within the Terra Mitica Theme Park. The themed hotel – Grand Luxor, will be situated in the Egypt section, occupying an area of 29,000 sq mts with 346 rooms spread over five floors. A total of €32 million will be invested for its creation.

I visited the construction site this morning and they are already up to the first floor. A spokesperson for the structure construction company told me that the concrete shell - €3 million budget, will be ready by the end of this year. The fit out will then begin in 2016 – but at present there is no completion date.

I spoke to the concrete plant manager – located next to Karting Finestrat and he told me that some days they deliver 20 lorry loads of ready mix and some days up to 50 loads – there was certainly a fleet going back and forth! There are six cranes and 50 workmen on site – working 14 hours per day to ensure that they meet the end of year deadline. They are certainly working very quickly – it was only around Easter time that the diggers moved in on site to start work - see the picture.

It will be interesting to see whether the hotel remains open all year round – bearing in mind that the theme park is only actually open full time for three months of the year – June, July and August! In May and September it is open 3 days per week and April and October at weekends only – with the exception of Easter, when it stays open every day during Good Friday and Easter Monday weeks.

The Magic Natura resort at nearby Terra Natura Wildlife Park opened recently and doing really well, mainly as it is totally unique and fantastic for animal lovers - it will be interesting to see what sort of people this new hotel attracts. The artists impression certainly looks very tasteful – but time will tell…