PortAventura theme park in Salou, Spain, has launched its new Shambhala roller coaster; the tallest and fastest in Europe.

The 25m euro (US$32m, £20m) steel 'hyper coaster' was designed and constructed by Swiss company Bolliger & Mabillard and is part of a larger 80m euro (US$103, £64m) investment in the park's facilities.

Located in the park's China zone, the 1,650m-long Shambhala towers at 78m (256ft) and reaches speeds of up to 135km/h (84mph).

The opening of Shambhala comes a year after the park opened the 13,000sq m (140,000sq ft) SésamoAventura, a 15m euro (US$19m, £12m) family attraction area themed according to characters from the popular children's TV series Sesame Street.

According to Sergio Feder, chief executive of PortAventura, the two openings are part of the park's plans to establish the attraction as a premium European destination resort.

"The opening of Shambhala is the next step," he said. "We identified that we needed a family area so we added SésamoAventura last year. Now, we have added the fastest and tallest coaster to our collection of rides - it is a statement of our ambitions.

"We want to be more than just a theme park. We already have four hotels with 2,000 rooms, a waterpark, a range of quality restaurants and a large conference centre.

"Currently, 30 per cent of all our guests come from outside Spain and we would like to see that figure increase even more."

• To read a full interview with Sergio Feder, look out for Attractions Management, Q3 2012. To receive your free digital copy, click here to visit our subscriptions page.

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