The World Islands will be finally opened for all this month!

Nakheel Chairman Ali Rashid Lootah told 'Emirates24|7' that the company plans to begin tours to The World project from January.

“Our leisure department is working on it… it should begin by this month,” he said.

No price details of the tour were disclosed.

In August, this website reported that Nakheel was in talks with tour agencies to start tours to The World Islands from Palm Jumeirah.

“We are trying to develop a tour and cruising business to The World islands from Palm Jumeirah… A lot of tour agencies are asking for such thing,” Lootah had said.

The World project is nine kilometres wide and seven kilometres long. It covers an area of 931 hectares and will add 232km to Dubai’s natural 67km of beachfront. The islands range from 150,000 to 450,000 square feet in size.

The project is divided into private estate island zones, commercial zones, which have low/mid/high density resorts, hubs for ferry transfer points and public visitor areas.

Sunil D'Souza, Regional Travel Director, Kanoo Travel, said: “The World did put Dubai on the global map… it will be an additional attraction for tourists to unwind and will certainly help the industry.”

Nakheel has maintained that 70 per cent of the 300 islands have been sold, while the remaining islands are still with them.

The World islands were sold by invitation only. The islands were initially priced in the range of $20 million (Dh73.4m) to $50m. Last year, some investors were selling the islands in the secondary market, offering discounts in the range of 10-17 per cent.

Currently, an oyster-shaped islet, part of the Asia island, has been put for sale in the secondary market at a discounted price of Dh105 million.