In pictures: Dubai's underwater hotel idea treads water

A groundbreaking underwater hotel, more suited to the pages of a sci-fi comic than Dubai’s shoreline, could become a reality in less than five years.

The Water Discus hotel, announced in May last year, is still in the initial planning stage and has yet to achieve full financing. Click on the picture for our story on the initial announcement.

But the company behind the project, Swiss firm BIG InvestConsult, believes it will not be long before the flying saucer-like structure lands off the coast of Dubai. “I think it will be within five years,” said Bogdan Gutkowski, the president of the company.

Mr Gutkowski said the company had still to chose between three designs of the project, and a final location. “This is still under negotiation and discussions with the final investor,” he added.

Connection to the land via a bridge was an issue, he said, and the Palm islands were being viewed as a possible location. However, a lot would depend on the final design, he added.

The project was announced last year after BIG InvestConsult signed an agreement with Dubai’s Drydocks World, that the port developer would act as a contractor on developing the hotel.

“Our expertise lies in developing future strategies aimed at advancing the construction of technology-driven pioneering projects in the maritime sector,” said Khamis Juma Buamim, the chairman of Drydocks World and Maritime World, in a statement at the time.

The project is not connected to Hydropolis, an underwater hotel for Dubai announced in 2003 and originally planned to be finished by 2009. The hotel, projected to cost Dh1.1 billion, has been postponed numerous times, and work never quite began.

Ian Albert, regional director of Colliers International, said prospect of an underwater hotel could boost the tourist sector.

“The hotel market here is strong,” Mr Albert said. “The hotels in the prime hotel spots are full, and the occupancy levels across the city are rising.

“To introduce something that is a new concept into that market, it should be well received, even if people want to stay there for one or two nights just to have a different experience. The more new attractions Dubai continues to build, the greater longevity of its tourist space.”