On the first day of Cityscape (Monday September 11) we heard of Expo 2020’s plans to preserve the legacy of the show way beyond its years, with District 2020. Now, one of the most ambitious announcements of the year has been unveiled, and it effectively means Dubai is getting its own Venice.

A huge, Dhs2.5 billion floating resort called The Floating Venice is due to be constructed near The World islands. More than 3,000 guests can be accommodated daily at the four-floor resort, which will also feature a huge amount of restaurants, beaches, pools and sealife attractions.

Here’s the video from Kleindeist group, the developer behind the project, which shows how the resort has been inspired from the canals of Venice, coupled with Dubai’s signature luxury style. Expect a huge, water-based spas, an underwater restaurant and lounge, plus and a huge underwater hotel suite which we can only assume is what it feels like to live inside a fish bowl.

The resort will cost a staggering US$680 million (Dhs2.5 billion) to construct, and will in essence create an aquatic city four kilometres off the Dubai coastline.

Of course, it couldn’t be a Venetian-themed resort without gondolas, and there will be plenty of them imported from Venice to transport guests from the lobby to their cabin, through winding canals.

There will be up to 414 bespoke cabins throughout the resort, and if you were worried you’d be trapped in a resort out at sea, you needn’t. Not only will there be a dozen restaurants and bars offering up top-quality entertainment and dining (three of which will be underwater), there will also be 24 swimming pools, some of which will have transparent plastic bases so you can observe the 400,000 sq ft of coral being planted around the site, which has been nurtured from a specially curated coral nursery, thus encouraging a range of sea life to the site.

If that’s not enough, there will be 12 floating beaches set against the backdrop of Dubai skyline. Construction is set to begin in Q1 2018, and due to complete by Q4 2020, and looks set to be one of the most ambitious hotel launches in recent memory.

Source www.timeoutdubai.com