Travel to the Titanic to launch in 2018

  • 22/03/2017
(ITV News)
(ITV News)

Nearly 105 years after the world's most luxurious cruise ship sank, a trip down to the wreckage of the Titanic is set to become a tourist attraction.

London-based travel company Blue Marble Private, which says it specialises in "extraordinary travel experiences", will begin dive trips down to the Titanic's North Atlantic Ocean graveyard in May 2018.

But don't start packing your bags just yet. The eight-day journey from Canada has a price tag of more than NZD$140,000.

That kind of money will get you on board a submersible, which will perform three-hour dives over three days.

"During the dive, your crew may conduct 3D and 2D sonar scans or search for one of the ship's giant boilers, enormous propellers, and other landmarks of this famous vessel," says company founder Elizabeth Ellis.

According to CNN, the first voyage has already been fully booked more than a year before its departure.

Ventures down to the "unsinkable" ship may be limited, however, after a 2016 study revealed the remainder of the wreckage may be eaten away by "extremophile bacteria" within the next 15 to 20 years.

Journeys to the wreckage have been rare  - it was only discovered 32 years ago by a Franco-American expedition led by Robert Ballard.

For those who can't afford the enormous price tag, the Titanic Museum in Ireland opened in 2012. It has had more than 3.5 million visitors and entry will only set you back $30.

Newshub.