Seville is the capital of Andalusia and the main
population centre in the region, one of the largest
in size and the most populous in the Iberian Peninsula.
Its almost 90,000 square kilometres and over seven
million inhabitants make it comparable to nations
such as Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands and Austria.
Seville's recent economic performance has been positive
in terms of production and job growth, achieving higher
rates of growth than the Spanish and European Union
averages. Gross domestic product grew by 4% in 2001
to 15,000 million euro, exceeding the Spanish and
EU average growth rates. The consumer price index
rose by 3%, slightly lower than the Spanish average
of 3.2%.
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The key factors influencing the
positive trends observed in Seville and its
metropolitan area since 1995 include the following:
A highly diversified industrial sector with
high growth potential. Strengthening and diversification
of the city's role as a major Southern European
commercial and service centre. |
Consolidation of the Sevilla- Tecnópolis Science
and Technology Park as a hub of entrepreneurial activity
and innovation. Strong performance of the tourist
industry, which shows no signs of flagging, in spite
of the decline of other traditional inbound tourist
markets. Strong growth in the building construction
and public works sector.
The key features of Seville's productive structure
are as follows:
Seville and its metropolitan area is a major service
centre, with the service sector generating more than
65% of GDP. The most important subsectors are public
services, accounting for 20% of GDP, in keeping with
the city's governance functions, the wholesale and
retail trade (12% of GDP), serving an extensive market,
the tourist industry (11%), financial and business
services (11%) and services related to new technology
(7%).
The area is also a highly diversified, leading industrial
centre in southern Spain, with construction and industry
accounting for 27% of GDP. The building construction
and public works sector alone accounts for 11% of
GDP. Important local industrial clusters include its
aeronautical industry, food industry, energy industry,
chemical industry, basic metals industry and transport
equipment industry.
The agricultural sector, although not as important
as the others, (4.5% of GDP), is the basis of a strong
food industry specialised in high-quality Mediterranean
products, such as oil, and canned vegetables, beer
and soft drinks.
The business sector of Seville's metropolitan area
comprises over 70,000 business establishments, which
provide employment to over 250,000 people. A breakdown
of these figures shows that 70,000 of these jobs are
in industrial establishments and over 180,000 in service
activities.