UNDER THE SEA

Mantra Underwater Hotel, Tanzania | Photo by Jesper Anhede

The three-level pontoon on Lady Musgrave Island will include an underwater observatory with UV lighting – for visitors to experience the reef at night, bedrooms with 360-degree underwater views of the reef, and upper decks to cater for diving, snorkelling and environmental data collection.

The Queensland government will provide $1 million towards the project, partnering with Lady Musgrave Experience.

Underwater hotels around the world include the delayed Shimao Wonderland Intercontinental in Shanghai, still under construction. While the Mantra Resort in Zanzibar in Tanzania will set visitors back $1500 a night (lead image), and the ultra-luxury Conrad Rangali Island underwater hotel in the Maldives, which sits five metres below the surface, costs its guests up to $11,710 a night.

Underwater plans for the southern area of the Great Barrier Reef's new hotel take a smaller and environmental approach. 

The pontoon is planned to be 36 metres by 12 metres and offer accommodation for up to 24 people, expected to cost visitors up to $550 a night. 

“All the decking on the pontoon is made from recycled materials and every lineal metre of our decking has 50 recycled milk bottles in it,” said Lady Musgrave Experience managing director, Brett Lakey. “So, there’s great longevity of our lagoon and for our Pontoon design.”

The state government said it will provide $1 million toward the project through its $36 million tourism infrastructure fund, announcing it would partner with Lady Musgrave Experience to deliver the pontoon.

“We know that tourism is now worth more than a billion dollars to the southern Great Barrier Reef, and we want to see this continue to grow because it means jobs locally,” tourism minister Kate Jones said. The development would attract an extra 160,000 visitors to the region each year and drive more than $1.8 million in visitor expenditure.

Construction is expected to commence in August with plans to open to the public in April 2020.

Via Urban Developer