The new Banyan Tree Macau has opened within the US$2 billion Galaxy Macau resort complex, providing a luxurious retreat for gamers.

The all-suite resort offers such extras as a relaxation pool in every room and the brand’s signature villas situated beside the resort’s unique rooftop wave pool.

As more and more tourists head to China, major tourism operators are looking for new and improved methods to grab their share of the market.

A fall in Abu Dhabi‘s hotel prices has prompted a record year for the Emirate so far, according to figures released July 27.

The first six months of 2011 showed the best hotel results in the history of the country, with the number of visitors climbing 11 percent to just over one million.

Authorities hope to break the two million visitor target for the first time this year.

London will lead the world in terms of international tourist arrivals this year, according to new research released June 1 by MasterCard.

The new index of Global Destination Cities predicts London will receive 20.1 million inbound passengers in 2011, slightly more than Paris’s 18.1 million.

Bangkok is expected to welcome the third-highest number of visitors, followed by Singapore and Hong Kong — in fact, cities in Asia-Pacific account for eight of the top 20 global destinations.

The world’s largest artificial floating island has finished its first week as a major new tourism attraction in Seoul, South Korea.

Seoul‘s Han River will eventually be home to a floating archipelago of three man-made “islets”, but the first island, Viva, opened to the public last week.

At 3,271 square meters, it is the second-largest of the three and is home to a three-storey structure housing a 700-seat convention hall and several other attractions such as restaurants and video games.

A touch of royalty, it turns out, can do wonders for a destination.

That seems to be the experience of the Seychelles, basking this month in the glory of being chosen as the honeymoon spot for the world’s most watched couple, Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Since the first reports of the honeymoon surfaced, the Seychelles has been blessed with the sort of press coverage most places can only dream of — something which authorities hope will turn readers into visitors in the coming months.

Brave a few “security problems” and trek the mountain ranges of Pakistan, take a vacation in Kuwait where the sand is very hot or risk a bit of heli-skiing in Uzbekistan.

If you are a tourist ready to go somewhere a bit different, there is a growing queue of destinations desperate to welcome you; 166 nations jostled for attention this week at the World Tourism Trade Fair in Madrid.

Pakistan International Airlines joined for the first time, keen to get some of the action from 200,000 trade and general public visitors anticipated at the five-day fair.