It will feature 17 events in 13 countries including the return to the home of the 2008 Olympic Games - the state-of-the-art 12,000-seat Chaoyang Park in Beijing.

The 2011 schedule includes the eighth edition of the $1million (£633,000) Swatch World Championships to be held in Rome, Italy from June 14-26, six Grand Slam events for the third year in a row and 10 Opens, of which six are double gender.

There will be Grand Slams offering $600,000 (£380,000)prize money in Norway, Switzerland, Russia, Poland, Austria and China.

Quebec in Canada will feature on the calendar for the first time as a double gender Open event while Marseille and Seoul drop out.

Events in the Middle East and Asia are still being negotiated for inclusion in the calendar at the latter part of the year.

"We are extremely pleased to be able to return to the venue of the 2008 Olympic Games which has so many strong memories after an amazing Olympic tournament two years ago," said Dr Ary Graça, President of the FIVB Beach Volleyball Commission.

"The tour is going from strength to strength every year and once again 2011 promises to be another prosperous one, especially with the Olympic qualifying process already under way thanks to the innovative Continental Cup.

"This latter event will serve the purpose to boost also aspects of beach volleyball including fans, organisers and players.

"With 30 events we are close to the limit of 34 which illustrates tremendous value of this thriving property and now we can open up to new markets by giving promoters the opportunity to host indoor beach volleyball events and key Continental Cup fixtures."

The 2011 FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour will open with a double gender Open in Brazilia, Brazil from April 18-24 while the first Grand Slam will take place in Beijing from June 6-12, leading in to the main event of the year – the FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Championships

Two cities will be used for the first time ever for pool play before the final rounds of the single elimination roster are held in the historic Parco del Foro Italico in Rome.

The next generation of beach volleyball stars will also be busy in 2011 with the FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch Junior (under-21) World Championships confirmed in Halifax, Canada, from September 15-19 while advanced negations have been undertaken to hold the FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch Youth (under-19) World Championships in Umag, Croatia, from June 21-26.

A detailed calendar featuring dates, locations and prize money will be released by the FIVB later this month.