Tourists can visit Titanic shipwreck in 2021 – but it will cost £90,000

Six dives are taking place between May and September

The bow of the Titanic at rest on the bottom of the North Atlantic, about 400 miles southeast of Newfoundland (AP)

Tourists can take a tour of the Titanic in 2021, the first time the shipwreck has been explored in 15 years.

Packages to visit the submerged vessel are being sold by OceanGate Expeditions for $125,000 (£95,000) a pop.

The transatlantic cruise liner, which famously sank during its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City in 1912 after hitting an iceberg, is located 4,000 metres underwater, around 370 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

Six trips are being planned for next year, taking place from May to September, with 36 tickets already sold. Nine passengers are allowed per excursion, meaning there are 54 places available in total and 18 tickets left.

Visitors will get a private cabin on the eight-day sailing from Canada, plus will get the chance to operate a five-person submarine while completing the 90-minute descent to reach the shipwreck.

There are no human remains left onboard, according to experts, but there are many other well-preserved objects that once belonged to guests, including children’s toys, luggage and wine bottles.

“There are boots and shoes and clothes that show where people were 100 years ago, and that is very sombre,” Stockton Rush, president of OceanGate Expeditions, told Bloomberg.

Dives will last six to eight hours, with three hours reserved for exploring the ship itself, and will double up as scientific research missions to examine the sea life surrounding the wreck.  

However, not everyone agrees that tourists should be encouraged to visit.

Beverley Roberts, a descendent of passengers who were on the Titanic, told the BBC that the shipwreck is a “mass grave site” and should be left in peace.

OceanGate Expeditions has already rescheduled the tours several times, first offering the experience in 2018 before it was pushed back to 2019 and now 2021.

It may be one of the last chances to see the shipwreck; a 2016 study found that “extremophile bacteria” could eat away at the vessel within 15 to 20 years.