atlanta information

facts and figures

Land area: 339 sq km

Population: 426,000

Shirley Franklin, Mayor of Atlanta

Languages: English

Public holidays 2006:
Jan 1st - New Year's Day
Jan 16th - Martin Luther King Jr Day
Feb 20th - Presidents' Day
May 29th - Memorial Day
Jul 4th - Independence Day
Sept 4th - Labor Day
Oct 9th - Columbus Day
Nov 10th - Veterans' Day
Nov 23rd - Thanksgiving Day
Dec 25th - Christmas Day

Telephone Codes:
Country code: 1
Atlanta area codes: 404, 678, 770
To make an international call from the USA: 011 + country code

Currency:
The United States dollar is divided into 100 cents. Notes are commonly issued in the following denominations: $100, $50, $20, $10, $5, $1. Coins are issued as follows: $1, 50c, 25c, 10c, 5c, 1c.
Click for currency convertor.

Business hours:
Office hours are generally 9am-5pm. Banking hours vary, but are usually Mon-Fri 9am-2/3pm. Shops are usually open Mon-Sat 10am-6pm; Sunday shopping hours are generally 12pm-6pm.

Economic profile:

Atlanta, one of the largest cities in the south-eastern United States, comprises half of Georgia's population and 55% of its economy. While agriculture and manufacturing drive the rest of Georgia's economy, Atlanta thrives on retail, tourism, transport, and information and financial services.

Atlanta's airport, Hartsfield-Jackson International, is one of America's busiest, and Delta Air Lines, headquartered in the city since 1941, is one of Atlanta's biggest employers. In the 1980s and 1990s, Atlanta began hosting conventions and trade shows, both of which have become a mainstay of the city's economy. The attacks of September 11th 2001 hit the city's travel and tourism industries hard—Delta continues to flirt with bankruptcy—but convention business has largely recovered, and construction is booming.

Other corporations headquartered in Atlanta include Coca-Cola, which has struggled since Robert Goizueta retired as chief executive in 1995, and the more successful UPS and Home Depot. The city's universities (including Emory, the Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State University and the Atlanta University Centre complex) also employ many locals. The city's unemployment rate is predicted to average 5.0% in 2005, 4.9% in 2006 and 4.9% in 2007. Two local military bases, Fort Gillem and Fort McPherson, are scheduled to close in 2006.

A housing boom began in the early 1990s and continues today in some outlying counties, especially those to the south (Coweta, Clayton and Fayette). The city centre has picked up too, as homeowners began buying and renovating properties in formerly unattractive neighbourhoods. But the city still trails the suburbs economically, and many areas remain impoverished.

posted by none @ 7:27 AM