Jesús Ger earned his first serious money selling televisions and mattresses, things that could not be missing in any house, no matter how modest it was; a business for the majority. When he set out to acquire land at a low price in the Castellón town of Oropesa de Mar, he had in mind the creation of a concept, the holiday city, within the reach of anyone. His idea was to attract clients eager to fulfill their dream of having a corner next to the beach where they could escape on vacation for little money: low-cost tourism.
This is how Marina d’Or was born in 1997, a conglomerate of apartments, hotels, spas and various attractions whose launch was accompanied by massive advertising in the press, radio and television. The phenomenon achieved by Torrevieja through “One, Two, Three” in the 70s and 80s was replicated in the 90s, only now all the eggs in the basket came from the same hen. There were no other promoters with whom to share success and risk.
The small coastal town multiplied its neighborhood, in a short time it went from having 2,000 registered inhabitants to 11,000, which is 8,000 now, according to official data, which counts the population residing in the place, not those who come in season but maintain his residence elsewhere.
Unaware of criticism for his questionable aesthetic taste, or for the environmental impact that the activity and growth of the complex could have on the surroundings, Ger had expansion plans on the table, especially an ambitious development of golf courses located on oriented lands. inland, between Oropesa and Cabanes. But the obstacles that the project encountered from the administration and the real estate crisis condemned it to die on paper.
The winds of the economy blew away the Mediterranean dream of the families that made up Jesús Ger’s commercial target, who did a lot to make ends meet. The apartments that until then had been taken out of their hands stopped being sold, Marina d’Or began to decline and its owners began to accumulate debt. So much so that in 2019 they had no choice but to cede control of Marina d’Or Hotels to an American investment fund – Farallon – after acquiring all the banking liabilities of the hotel division, a debt that exceeded 107 million euros. The timing couldn’t have been more inopportune.
Well, the attempts of the new managers to recover profitability collided with an imponderable that not even the most seasoned investor saw coming: the coronavirus. The pandemic caused its income to plummet by 60% and its losses to rise to 23.2 million euros in 2020, compared to 9 million the previous year. Rumors of sales begin to emerge, common in these cases, since buying failing businesses, cleaning up and selling is the common practice of those faceless structures that we know as investment funds.
Until last August, the news emerged: the Fuertes Group, owner of the El Pozo food brand, and the Alicante hotel group Magic Costa Blanca presented an offer of 70 million euros to take over the emblematic tourist resort. They will assume management as soon as the operation has been closed, since it is lacking the relevant approval from the National Markets and Competition Commission.
In the meantime, the managers make the decision to anticipate the end of the season, which last year was brought forward from December to October, and suddenly announce to customers who had a reservation that they will get their money back, but they will have to look for another destination in the sun.
Given the silence of the company and the commotion caused, the councilor Nuria Montes, recently landed from her position in the Benidorm hotel association, sends a reassuring message: the early closure is a business decision and the Valencian executive has no doubt that the New owners, who have plenty of experience and a solid investment plan, will be able to revive the business. Sources close to the Magic Costa Blanca group invite you to observe another project of the group: Magic Robin Hood, a combination of resort and adventure park inspired by the heroic archer, near Benidorm, to get an idea of ??where the future of Marina may go. d’Or.
