A leading underwater tourism development firm in the U.S. is in "initial" talks with Baha Mar, as it looks to push its Underwater Worlds product throughout the Caribbean.
The $3.5 billion development, set to open in December 2014, is the latest resort to show interest in incorporating the company's artificial reef system into its project, Guardian Business can confirm.
Reef Worlds, a Los Angeles-based company that creates artificial underwater environments that cater to mass tourism and takes the pressure off natural reef systems, has also been in negotiations with the Sandals Resort chain and Blue Diamond Resorts.
Blue Diamond Resorts is the Sunwing affiliate which is set to lease and operate the 503-room Reef Village hotel in Grand Bahama, starting this winter.
Dave Taylor, head of development at Reef Worlds, told Guardian Business that The Bahamas is the "number one destination" in the Caribbean for the company, because of the level of interest from the government and potential resort partners.
Back in May, Reef Worlds set aside $4.5 million for the development of projects in the Caribbean.
"As far as Reefs World is concerned, we have a government that's interested and wants to do a deal. We have close to $5 million of our money that we are putting into the deal. Finding a resort partner is the third element," Taylor said yesterday.
"It's an odd scenario to be in because we have a government that really wants in and there's money already on the table, and now we find ourselves trying to nail down a resort partner that understands the value."
While he did admit to Guardian Business that resort developments have been challenged for the past five years, Taylor remains optimistic that Reef Worlds will find a suitable resort partner soon.
"We are in 'initial' talks with Baha Mar. We feel a property like that, which is going to challenge Atlantis, needs to have a world-class underwater program," he shared.
"We have been in talks with Blue Diamond Resorts. At the end of the day, they just couldn't put it together. They were a prime target because they were bringing their own airlift in but they are no way near ready to sit down and adopt a dynamic reef system. It's a great company so we were excited to be in initial discussions with them.
"We also talked with Sandals and gave them a proposal that featured a propagation program along with the site. For now, they have put it on the back burner as they are in expansion mode right now.
"We are looking at most of the properties in the Caribbean like The Bahamas, Jamaica, St. Lucia, the whole chain. We proposed ten but they came back with six. In the end, we were looking at eight. We were looking at the properties in The Bahamas to be the kick-off. We started designing for The Bahamas," he added.
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