The main pillars of the local economy are hotels and tourism. Aranjuez has always been an attractive city for tourists with its Royal Palace, the gardens, the Tagus river and the landscapes. In 2001 this city was designated as a World Heritage Cultural landscape byUNESCO, and since then, tourism has kept on increasing. Much money was spent in order to beautify Aranjuez and many pubs and restaurants were opened (from 2001 to 2004 their number increased 22%). In 2005 a large casino was opened in the city and in March 2008 the Tagus Hospital was opened.
Agriculture
Aranjuez is located on the fertile plain of the Tagus river, and its soil is suitable for growingwheat and other cereals. There are also horticulture plantations (asparagus andstrawberries), both irrigated and unirrigated products, vines and melons, which are also typical of the neighbouring region of Castilla-La Mancha.
Industry
The proximity to Madrid and the good communications by road and rail made Aranjuez a suitable location for industry: detergents, mechanical construction, computer and electricalmaterial, photographic materials, pharmaceutical products, paints and varnishes, sugarrefineries, and oil mills.
In recent decades, the sugar refinery and the Agfa photographic factory have closed. Cortefiel, agarment company, plans to build a factory in Aranjuez in the next few years.
The majority of the industries are located to the west of the railway station or in the "Gonzalo Chacón" industrial park, in the south. The main existing industries are:
Lever Brothers (detergents)
Indra (computer systems)
Carburos Metálicos (chemicals)
Fyse (pharmaceuticals)
Bosch (electrical components for
