Since then, malls and arcades have been opening everywhere, and the shopping craze has reached the point where an amazing two-thirds of visitors to Las Vegas in one survey cited the shops as the main reason to come.

Las Vegas isn't a great destination for bargain hunters; apart from the odd souvenir store, it's not tacky, and it's not cheap. Instead, tourists can expect to encounter jazzed-up outlets of all the usual chains to be found in any US suburban mall, plus a leavening of high-end international names. What's really generating all the excitement is that the big casinos have started to bring Las Vegas's traditional flair for display and presentation to these shopping malls, turning them into must-see attractions.

Along the Strip in particular, the shopping boom shows no signs of faltering. The arrival of the exquisite but very small Via Bellagio at Bellagio in 1998 did little to rock the Forum's throne, but things hotted up in 1999, when the Venetian unveiled its gloriously over-the-top Grand Canal Shoppes.

Since then, the Desert Passage at the revamped Aladdin has appeared, on much the same extravagant scale, while Mandalay Resort Group has been pressing ahead with the construction of a huge new mall between Luxor and Mandalay Bay ; negotiations for Harrod's of London to be its anchor have fallen through, but something spectacular is certainly in the offing. Not to be outdone, the Strip's veteran Fashion Show Mall is in the throes of a massive expansion.

Not every casino has succumbed to the mall-building craze, however. Both the MGM Grand and the Mirage devote a tiny proportion of their space to shopping, while others among their neighbors stick to the traditional formula of offering only souvenir-type stores, such as Luxor 's enjoyable selection of Egyptian-themed outlets.

As a city of over a million inhabitants, Las Vegas has of course its fair share of busy shopping districts - most notably along South Decatur Boulevard and South Maryland Parkway , a couple of miles west and east of the Strip respectively - as well as the kind of malls you'd find anywhere in the United States. Once again, however, few visitors bother to stray far from the Strip.