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Kerzner International Studying a Few Mega-resort Destinations
 Centered on Water Parks;  Planning Starts for Dubai's
 $650 million Atlantis, The Palm

By Douglas Hanks III, The Miami Herald
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Sep. 23, 2003 - The owner of the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas plans on exporting the lost-city brand to the Middle East by building an equally grandiose hotel in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

Dubai's Atlantis will rise on a man-made, palm-tree-shaped island and mark Kerzner International's first attempt at creating a chain of Atlantis destinations modeled after its successful Nassau resort.

The new $650 million project -- to be called Atlantis, The Palm -- would emphasize the same underwater and over-the-top atmosphere of the original resort, including a massive aquarium and water park, and two ornate towers linked by a bridge of ultra-luxury hotel rooms.

Kerzner is considering bringing Atlantis resorts to Europe and Asia in the same way Disney exported its theme parks to Tokyo and Paris, said company President Butch Kerzner.

"We've been looking in the past two years to find some other venue to build another Atlantis and take the brand more globally," Kerzner revealed in a telephone interview.

The Bahamas-based company operates hotels and casinos around the world, including one in the United Arab Emirates. Atlantis, The Palm will be a joint venture with the Dubai government, which has spent billions of dollars attracting visitors to the Persian Gulf state and now has one of the world's fastest-growing tourism economies.

The 1,000-room Atlantis will sit on one of two islands three miles into the gulf that Dubai is creating from scratch to resemble palm trees with more than a dozen fronds. The $1.5 billion project will increase Dubai's beachfront by 75 percent.

The Middle East has long attracted vacationers from Europe and Asia who are drawn by balmy climates and relatively short flying times -- about six or eight hours either way, said Scott Berman, a hotel analyst for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Miami.

Kerzner will market the Dubai Atlantis to Europeans and Asians, leaving the Bahamas Atlantis to cater to the North American market, Kerzner said.

The 75-acre Atlantis, The Palm will have a water park twice the size of the one in Nassau, Kerzner said, but no casino, since gambling is illegal in Dubai.

The Dubai resort could grow to 2,000 rooms, the company said in a press release. That would leave it smaller than the original, which has 2,300 rooms now and plans on adding another 1,200 in a $600 million expansion already underway. And last week, Kerzner announced it was buying the neighboring Club Med in Nassau.

In the interview, Kerzner said the company will limit the Atlantis franchise to a few mega-resort destinations centered on water parks.

"The last thing we would ever do is put Atlantis on a 300-room hotel," he said.

-----To see more of The Miami Herald -- including its homes, jobs, cars and other classified listings -- or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.herald.com.

(c) 2003, The Miami Herald. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. DIS,

 
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