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New York City has experienced such a boom in its number of European visitors that some shops are beginning to accept euros, according to reports.

The main reason for this trend is thought to be the substantial drop of the value of the dollar against the euro on currency exchange markets.

On 28 February, $1 was worth €1.52, which represented an all-time low, Business Day reports.

The consistent slide that brought the dollar to this point led to the number of international tourists who came to New York rising to 8.5m last year, many of whom came from Europe, according to research by Global Insight.

It was estimated that these visitors spent some $2.9bn on shopping in New York City.

Marla Hander, the president of Shop Gotham, which caters for domestic and foreign tourists, said: 'My European customers just can't get enough in luxury stores like Louis Vuitton or Marc Jacobs, or those funky little boutiques in SoHo and the Lower East Side.'

Commenting on the fact that many stores are beginning to accept euros, Imran Ahmed, a store manager on New York's Lower East side, said: ' Most people don't think it's a big deal. A lot of our customers are based in New York, but many are Europeans.'

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