Dubai builds two new man-made islands in £1.3BN development featuring marine parks, luxury villas and the Middle East's first Cirque Du Soleil show

• e-mail

Dubai plans to develop a £1.3billion tourist resort on two man-made islands featuring marine parks, luxury villas and the Middle East's first Cirque Du Soleil show. 

Spanning 4million square feet, Marsa Al Arab will be made up of two islands - one dedicated to entertainment and family tourism and the other featuring luxury villas and a private marina, state media reported.

The islands will be built on either side of the Burj Al Arab - a luxury sail-shaped hotel - and boast 140 villas, a marine and water park and a theatre with capacity for 1,700 people to host shows.

Dubai plans to develop a £1.3billion tourist resort on two man-made islands featuring marine parks, luxury villas and the Middle East's first Cirque Du Soleil show. Pictured, the artificial Palm Islands created in 2014

The islands will be built on either side of the Burj Al Arab (pictured) - a luxury sail-shaped hotel - and feature 140 villas, a marine and water park and a theatre with capacity for 1,700 people to host shows

Work on the project will break ground in June and be completed by late 2020, state news agency WAM reported.

It is the latest development planned by the emirate as it aims to attract 20million visitors a year by 2020 when Dubai will host the World Expo 2020 exhibition.

Dubai is already one of the world's most visited cities, although its hotels, shopping malls and state-owned airline, Emirates, have been buffeted by a strong US dollar which has made the emirate pricier for many overseas visitors. The United Arab Emirates pegs its dirham to the dollar.

Around 4.6 million tourists visited Dubai during the first quarter, up by 11 percent compared to the same period of last year, according to Dubai Tourism data.

Spanning 4million square feet, Marsa Al Arab will be made up of two islands - one dedicated to entertainment and family tourism and the other featuring luxury villas and a private marina, state media reported. Pictured, 'The Palm' Jebel Ali, 'The Palm' Jumeirah and 'The World' islands

It is the latest development planned by the emirate as it aims to attract 20million visitors a year by 2020 when Dubai will host the World Expo 2020 exhibition. Pictured, luxury villas on the Palm Jumeirah

The agency did not mention how the project would be funded.

Dubai is working on several big projects due for completion in the next few years and being funded by debt.

It is building the World Expo 2020 exhibition site, an extension to Dubai's Metro system and Al Maktoum International Airport, a new airport being developed on the edge of Dubai, which will serve up to 146 million passengers by 2025.

Marsa Al Arab will add 1.4 miles of beach to the emirate's coastline, WAM said.

 Dubai is working on several big projects due for completion in the next few years and being funded by debt

Marsa Al Arab will add 1.4 miles of beach to the emirate's coastline, WAM said

Dubai's most famous artificial island, Palm Jumeriah, is home to several hotels, villas and apartments. But other islands it planned to develop were stalled or scaled back after the emirate's 2009 debt crisis.

Palm Jebel Ali, which began construction in 2002, has yet to be completed, while plans for Palm Deira have been reworked to create a scaled-down project called Deira Islands.

Another man-made archipelago, The World, a 300-island chain laid out in the shape of the world's continents, has only been partially developed.