Dossier - Mexico Polanco

Miami: eco profile

Tourism remains Miami's most 'visible' economic sector, especially as growth has been strong over the last six years. In 2007, there were 12 million visitors - 45.9 % of them foreign - with an estimated impact of 17.1 billion dollars. The trend remains strongly in favour of leisure, with only 14 % of visitors saying they were coming for business or a conference.

But tourism is not the only - or even the main - source of income for a city that boasts 1,200 multinational companies from 50 countries, employing 180,000 people.

In addition to most of the major cruise lines, many groups have their headquarters in Miami or the surrounding area. Among the most famous are Bacardi, Burger King, Espirito Santo Financial Group, Perry Ellis International, Telefonica USA and Univision. But above all, many companies have taken advantage of Miami's proximity to the South American continent and its Latin 'feel' to set up their headquarters for their Latin American operations here, including Sony, Microsoft, Disney, Cisco, Fedex...

According to the Atlanta Economic Mission, Florida's GDP was $673 billion in 2005 (ranked 4th in the United States), and its main competitive clusters are life sciences, information and communication technologies, aviation and aerospace (Cape Canaveral) and financial services.

Dossier - Mexico Polanco