Photo: Reef Worlds

Photo: Reef Worlds

Plans are moving forward to build the largest underwater tourism attraction in the world in Dubai: The theme park is set to include scuba diving and snorkelling in a space modelled after the mythical Lost City of Atlantis.

To be developed by Los Angeles-based Reef Worlds – the same outfit that has designed sets for blockbuster movies like “Avatar” and “Pirates of the Caribbean”– the Pearl of Dubai is being billed as the largest sustainable underwater tourism site as it will stretch across five acres off the city coast, reported emirates247.com.

The five-acre park, billed as the largest sustainable underwater tourism site, will be accessible to swimmers and divers of all ages and levels who can view the site near the surface of the sea by snorkelling or explore it deeper underwater by scuba diving. The company hopes to create a park where “everybody can be satisfied”, with children able to snorkel, while parents go diving and teenagers explore the waters in a semi-submersible, The National, the Abu Dhabi-based daily, reported earlier this year.

The artificial reef, to be built in shallow waters of The World islands, will also aim to foster marine life with colonies of algae and soft corals, reported The National earlier this year when plans were still afoot.

A completion date has yet to be announced.