This project originated with research I conducted for an article comparing the tourist cities of Las Vegas, Dubai, and Macau, and pondering their relevance for understanding global urbanization. I wrote the article during a sabbatical leave from the University of Macau, when I was a visiting re-search fellow in the'Asian Urbanisms'cluster at the Asia Research Institute (ARI), National University of Singapore. ARI offers a fantastic researchenvironment, and I am grateful to Tim Bunnell and Chua Beng Huat for providing me with the ARI fellowship opportunity. An initial version ofthat article appeared in the ARI Working Paper series, and the final version was published as a review article in thejournal Current Issues in Tourism.

Most of the chapters in this volume started as papers prepared for a subsequent workshop on the subject of'tourist utopias' held in Macau in April 2013. The workshop proposal was initially supported by MartinMontgomery and Yufan Hao (who at the time served, respectively, as headof the Department of Communication and dean of the Faculty of SocialSciences and Humanities, University ofMacau) ; and funding to conduct the workshop was approved by the University ofMacau Research and Develop-ment Administration Office (RDAO). I would like to thank Rui Martins, UM vice rector ofresearch, and Cindy Lam, head ofthe RDAO, for their support for the project, Edith Mok provided valuable administrative assistance forthe workshop planning.

The workshop was also generously supported by contributions from threeprominent local operators in Macau gaming industry Neptune Group Ltd., MGM China, and Galaxy Entertainment Group. I would like to personally thank Nick Niglio, Executive Director and CEO of Neptune Group GrantBowie, Executive Director and CEO oFMGM China and Buddy Lam Chi Seng, Executive Vice President of Public Relations, Galaxy EntertainmentGroup, for their support. This generosity proved invaluable for the par-ticipants'ability to understand the inner workings of Macau's gaming and tourism business, and no doubt contributed significantly to the quality of the chapters that follow.

Tony Schirato has been instrumental in ensuring that the book is f-nally published, and his encouragement and advice is greatly appreciated.Finally, I am grateful for PM Nyfri's original support for the book project,and the helpful guidance provided by Saskia Geiling and her colleagues at Amsterdam University Press.