Artificial beaches are becoming increasingly popular all over the world, popping up in countries like Monoco, Berlin, Hong Kong and Toronto, as a way to enjoy a beach day without the hassle of travelling to the coast.
The world’s biggest was Seagaia Ocean Dome in Miyazaki, Japan – about 923 miles south of Tokyo – which cost an eyewatering $1.8 billion (£1.4bn) when it was built.
The Ocean Dome, which was part of the Sheraton Seagaia Resort, measured 300 metres long by 100 metres wide and boated the world’s largest retractable roof, which opened and closed according to weather conditions.
It housed 12,000 square metres of sandy beach, crushed from 600 tonnes of stones imported from China and an “ocean” six times the size of an Olympic pool filled with 13,500 tonnes of unsalted, chlorinated water.
It also sported artificial palm trees, a fake flame-spitting volcano which became active every 15 minutes and incredible waves to satisfy any surfer’s appetite.
Former Australian world tour surfer Matthew Pitts performed nightly as Prince Sabu, in the Dome’s wave pool shows for at least eight years.
“I have the best job, surfing all day in the ocean, then getting barrelled every night in the Ocean Dome. Plus, I’m getting paid for it!” he stated.
Set within a sprawling 850-acre resort, the Dome was part of a larger ecosystem that included five hotels, an assortment of sporting facilities, golf courses, botanical parks, and a zoo. Other accommodations within the area include the Seaside Hotel Phoenix, the Sun Hotel Phoenix, and the Cottage Himuka, with 14 cottages in a wooded setting.
The most bizarre part of the resort was its location- a mere 300 meters away from an actual beach.
The air temperature was kept at around 30C and the water at a balmy 28C, equipped with a wave machine with 200 variations.
Conceived by the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Group, it opened in 1993 and visitor numbers peaked in 1995 at nearly 1.3 million a year.
However, as breathtaking as it was, the Dome never managed to become a profitable venture. Seagaia filed for bankruptcy in February 2001, the biggest failure of a public-private partnership in Japan. It symbolised the excesses of Japan’s bubble economy – one in which real estate and stock market prices were greatly inflated.
The dome was later bought by Ripplewood, an American private-equity fund, in 2001 for 16.2 billion yen (£121 million), which was less than 10% of its construction costs of 200 billion yen (£1.6 billion). Ripplewood had also invested an additional 3.5 billion yen (£26) in renovations for the dome.
However, even after the resort was remodelled, the hotel closed with liabilities of 276 billion yen (£2 million).
The water park was closed in 2007 and the Seagaia Ocean Dome was demolished in 2017, a year after the hotel had received major renovations that did not include it.
