Most of the detailed data has been collected by ‘Visit London’ - the tourist body who created a detailed report on the cities main attractions, with a total of 56 attractions and venues taking part in the survey. Information on the growth of the London key attractions after June and July’s terrorist attack showed a return to normal figures much quicker than expected (harking back to the days of the North Ireland terror attacks of the Eighties).

Of the London main attraction venues a number of these facilities and their owners proved to be as much as in flux as the international amusement and attraction scene. Tussauds Group is owned by Dubai International Capital (DCI) based in the Arab Emirates (acquiring Tussards Group for $800 million), and operates the a large number of attractions including Madame Tussauds which saw their ‘London Planetarium’ exhibit closed for redevelopment as a 4D theatre. The 1950’s built planetarium had been a London institution, but now in a 2006 announcement the Tussards operation closed the event for a 2007 re-opening with Oscar winning Aardman Animation (producers of the Wallace and Gromit series), creating a film based on the celebrities immortalized in the adjacent wax museum.

The legendary Green Dome of the London Planetarium superseded by The Greenwich Royal Observatory - the location of the Greenwich Meridian - who announced a £5 million project to develop ‘The Time & Space’ attraction, which will see London retain a domes star gazing attraction. The new 120-seat Planetarium attraction will be incorporated into the Greenwich project, planned to open in 2007.

But moving through the entire country the impact in the changes in gambling and gaming started to appear; the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (responsible for applications for new gaming facilities) revealed in 2005 it received over 40 applications for regional casinos. The first Super-Casino expected to appear in the North of the Country. For London there is a strong possibility of another 28 venues to open within the City.

The original proposal that only one ‘test’ Super-Casino was too be built by 2007 and from this evaluation sites were too be made on its impact and the scope of further development was cast into doubt by the number of local government announcement of plans to invest in schemes to encourage casino spending in their area. For example Middlesbrough was reported as proceeding with plans for a £180million ‘Super-Casino’ and leisure complex in the Middlehaven dock development project - with the preferred developer of the project already stated as Aspera.

This development hopes to compete with other Boroughs working on projects. Brighton and Hove - the leading Southern seaside location in the UK started industrious negotiations for the development of a casino in the City’s Hilton Metropole Hotel, though the site will not be a Super-Casino to start with concerns were voiced by local residents that this was a stealth project towards a bigger development as time progressed.

The news of the move by the Hilton Group towards divesting their hotel division and moving into the gaming business in the UK was revealed in February. In a £3.3billion ($3.5billion) agreement the US-based corporation Hilton Hotel corporation took control of the groups business. While the Hilton UK operation would revert to its subsidiary’s name Ladbrokes and focus on online and licensed betting office business with a particular internet in casino and parlor gaming.

Underlining the competition between tourist destinations in the UK, the popular Northern seaside location, Blackpool announced that their plans to be the host for the first Super-Casino seemed on track with a planned announcement of government support before the middle of the year. Blackpool Pleasure Beach saw 5.97million visitors in 2005 (a drop of 3.3 per cent). This has to be placed into perspective that 30 million international visitors visited the country generating £14billion to the British economy.