From Orlando to Los Angeles and in between, shopping center owners have realized that fine dining has progressed from a tactic to keep shoppers from leaving to a draw in itself.

"It's been a shift in leasing. Ten years ago, when you thought of mall dining, you'd think of the food court or Chili's. Now, they're positioning it as an anchor tenant," said Kathy Anderson, a Phoenix-based tourism consultant for General Growth Properties, Chicago. Anderson will lead a roundtable discussion on Culinary Tourism at the International Council of Shopping Centers' Fall Conference in Chicago later this month.

According to the National Restaurant Association, more than two-thirds of table-service restaurants report that visitors are important to their business. At fine-dining establishments, approximately 40 percent of revenues come from tourists, the association says.

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