By all means, come to Las Vegas now, while £1 still buys you $2, but we're hardly on our last legs.

Part of CityCenter is already built: the condominium sales office. It's been described as the most expensive temporary structure in the world; once CityCenter proper is up and running, it will be gone in favor of something new. And when CityCenter itself outlives its usefulness, we'll implode it in the middle of the night like the buildings it replaced.

Bill, Las Vegas, USA

I went to Las Vegas, an astonishing place - America "red in tooth and claw". But don't go for more than a week, and fit in a trip to the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon. You won't know America when you get back, but you'll feel as though you do.

It's weird - the country that sees the rest of the World as a theme park, is rapidly becoming a theme park for the rest of the World.

Ken Leyland, Liverpool, U.K.

Places like Las Vegas, Phoenix and Tucson were not feasible until modern air conditioning was invented and used prolifically. In some ways, none of these cities really should ever have been built since they have no local water supplies. As global warming continues -- and even escalates -- and the Western United States continues to undergo increasing long-term drought, it will be VERY interesting to see if places like these 3 cities can grow or even just maintain their existence. It is also likely that Las Vegas in particular will feel a crunch when Americans can no longer afford the cost of flying or driving there and must cut back on expenses such as gambling, travel and hotels. I'm very glad I'm not signed onto a billion dollar development loan hoping against hope that "if I build it, they will come."

Janet, Salt Lake Citiy, UT, USA

A lot of people are saying that only the really great projects are actually getting built. Project City Center is the giant out of all these projects but so many others that have been cancelled would have made the available room glut much worse.

One astonishing thing about Las Vegas is how high the room occupancy rates are. Major strip properties are very often completely booked every weekend, when room rates skyrocket. This is the main reason why so many high end projects were announced.

One of the biggest concerns Las Vegas pundits have had is how overpriced the city has become, especially for the convention business, which is much more price sensitive. The largest convention is the Consumer Electronics Show which has recently been alienating its visitors with the uppity attitude of the with excessive price gouging.

The addition of tens of thousands of brand new high end properties Adds to the number of reasonabley priced, high quality rooms aplenty for the price sensitive.

John, Berkeley, CA USA

Where is Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal when the city of Las Vegas needs him most?

david johnson, houston, texas

The closing statement was based on much more than erratic spending on wasteful projects. There exist a whole host of issues which point toward the demise of Las Vegas, including potable water waste, geographic location, and energy consumption. I would be extremely skeptical that the intent of this article is to persuade individuals to vacation in Las Vegas, rather to bring to light the inevitable decline of the city into focus. Granted the timeline will be hard to predict, but the outcome is clear.

Patrick, Denver, Colorado

I so disagree with this article. Instead of speculation, I'd rather look at facts. Look at the tourism statistics of Las Vegas through the years
http://cber.unlv.edu/tour.pdf
From 2001 to 2007, visitor volume increased from 35 million to 39 million people.Hotel occupany rates increased from 84.7% to 90.4% during these years.
You know what's long long gone... $19/night hotel rooms and $1.99 prime rib dinners you can get anywhere on the strip!

Arlene, LA,

So, you've explained the upside...could you give us a refresher on what the theoretical downside would be? I missed that part.

Dan'l, Portland, US

What is the implication of this closing statement from Chris Ayres?

"My advice to anyone planning a trip: do it sooner rather than later, while you still can."

Does he mean that Vegas will soon be gone and we should all therefore hurry before its demise?

Mr Ayres is surely exaggerating. No doubt the intention of his dramatic statement was designed with the intent of getting himself noticed rather than accurately portraying the facts.

My comments irrespective of their content will probably be received with orgasmic pleasure, but Mr Ayres will now be marked down a notch in my list of journalists I pay heed to.

My toughest decidion was whether to be annoyed by his article or whether to laugh in derision.

Laughing won hands down.

joe, glasgow, uk