page_title: Alicante
section_title: Economy
hierarchical_section_title: Alicante / Economy
caption_attribution_description: Español: Vista de Alicante, EspañaEnglish: View of Alicante, Spain
context_page_description: Alicante is a city on the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alacant and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 330,525 as of 2016, the second-largest in Valencian Community.
context_section_description: Until the global recession which started in 2008, Alicante was one of the fastest-growing cities in Spain. The boom depended partly on tourism directed to the beaches of the Costa Blanca and particularly on the second residence-construction boom which started in the 1960s and revived again by the late 1990s. Services and public administration also play a major role in the city's economy. The construction boom has raised many environmental concerns and both the local autonomous government and city council are under scrutiny by the European Union. The construction surge was the subject of hot debates among politicians and citizens alike. The latest of many public battles concerns the plans of the Port Authority of Alicante to construct an industrial estate on reclaimed land in front of the city's coastal strip, in breach of local, national and European regulations. (See Port of Alicante for details).
  The city serves as the headquarters of the European Union Intellectual Property Office and a sizeable population of European public workers live there.
  The campus of the University of Alicante lies in San Vicente del Raspeig, bordering the city of Alicante to the north. More than 25,000 students attend the University.
  Between 2005 and 2012 Ciudad de la Luz, one of the largest film studios in Europe, had its base in Alicante. The studio shot Spanish and international movies such as Asterix at the Olympic Games by Frédéric Forestier and Thomas Langmann, and Manolete by Menno Meyjes. It was shut down in 2012 for violating European competition law.
caption: Port of Alicante
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