Economy
Famed worldwide for its viticulture (with 70% of the 1.5 billion liters in Argentine wine production), the Mendoza economy (Argentina's fifth largest) is, however, quite diversified. Its 2006 output was estimated at US$13.8 billion, or, US$8,720 per capita (about the national average). Agriculture, to be sure (though 7% of the total economy), has long accounted for much of Menodoza's foreign exchange earnings (followed closely by tourism, mainly from Chile). Besides wine, other important crops (mainly for the Argentine market) are apples, pears, tomatoes, onions, plums, olives, cherries, peaches and quince. Apiculture, with 30,000 beehives, is another growing activity favoured by Mendoza's dry weather.
Mining is important to the Mendoza economy and has grown sharply in recent years, now accounting for 22% of output in 2005 (nearly 5 times the national average). Fourteen percent of the national reserves of petroleum are in Mendoza, also home to large-scale mining of lime and uranium. Manufacturing has long contributed to the province's prosperity and still accounts for 16% of the economy. Mendoza's main industries are, of course, wine production with 1,200 wineries turning out 1.1 billion liters in 2005, followed by canned fruits, a large petroleum refinery (in Luján de Cuyo), cement and others.
Mendoza's services sector is somewhat less developed and diversified than the national average. Tourism, long active in the scenic province, has, since the 2002 devaluation of the Argentine peso, become one of its most important sources of income, with around 700,000 visitors per year. The main attractions are the Las Leñas ski centre, the Aconcagua mountain, and the provincial parks of the Atuel Canyon, Puente del Inca, Guaymallén and others. With the recent developments in Argentine wine production, enotourism has also become very popular, with numerous wine-tourism oriented hotels appearing throughout the province. Wineries along the wine route generally offer free tours of the premises with wine-tastings at the conclusion of the tour. In the wine-producing region, the Fiesta de la Vendimia (grape harvest festival) receives many visitors in late February or early March. The Christ the Redeemer of the Andes statue in the mountains on the Chilean border is a destination for many excursions.
Read more about this topic: Mendoza Province
Famous quotes containing the word economy:
“Quidquid luce fuit tenebris agit: but also the other way around. What we experience in dreams, so long as we experience it frequently, is in the end just as much a part of the total economy of our soul as anything we “really” experience: because of it we are richer or poorer, are sensitive to one need more or less, and are eventually guided a little by our dream-habits in broad daylight and even in the most cheerful moments occupying our waking spirit.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“The counting-room maxims liberally expounded are laws of the Universe. The merchant’s economy is a coarse symbol of the soul’s economy. It is, to spend for power, and not for pleasure.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)