The municipality of Heraklion is located seaside along the Aegean Sea, on the north coast of the island of Crete. Heraklion is the fourth largest city in Greece, and the administrative capital of Crete and the Heraklion regional unit. The city’s historic center is encircled by Venetian walls, making the entirety of the old town a protected monument. Heraklion has a significant human capital base, owing to the presence of prominent university campuses and research institutions which lead cutting-edge research projects throughout Europe in a number of fields. Key sectors of focus and potential growth for the city include tourism, ICT and biotechnology. Tourism has been on an upward trajectory and is expected to grow in the next years, backed by the realization of strategic infrastructure projects (airport, port, marina) which are expected to expand tourism offerings across target segments and improve the value added of the tourism sector. Significant infrastructures and stakeholders are in place to facilitate increased tourism, with two major airlines and a cruise-style ferry line headquartered in the city. Meanwhile, Heraklion also shows remarkable potential in research and innovation, demonstrated by its top-tier research centers which lead projects across Europe, and its increasing business and economic support infrastructure leading to successful research commercialization particularly in the fields of ICT and biotechnology.
Authors
Related Organizations
- Citation
- “ World Bank . 2024 . Economic Profile: Municipality of Heraklion . © Washington, DC: World Bank . http://hdl.handle.net/10986/42304 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO . ”
- Collection(s)
- General Economy, Macroeconomics, and Growth Study
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1596/42304
- Identifier externaldocumentum
- 34410897
- Identifier internaldocumentum
- 34410897
- Pages
- 36
- Published in
- United States of America
- Region country
- Greece
- Report
- 194284
- Rights
- CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO
- Rights Holder
- World Bank
- Rights URI
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/igo
- UNIT
- Infra ECA Urban (IECUR)
- URI
- https://hdl.handle.net/10986/42304
- date disclosure
- 2024-10-25
- region administrative
- Europe and Central Asia
- theme
- Urban Infrastructure and Service Delivery,Mitigation,Municipal Institution Building,Environment and Natural Resource Management,Public Sector Management,Urban Planning,Climate change,Urban and Rural Development,Adaptation,Public Administration,Urban Development
Files
Table of Contents
- Cover 1
- Table of Contents 3
- List of Figures, Tables and Boxes 4
- Quick Facts on Region and Municipal Area 5
- Demographics 7
- Educational attainment of workforce 8
- Labor force and employment 9
- Unemployment 9
- Structural Composition of the Economy 12
- MSMEs 12
- Sectoral analysis 13
- Economic performance 16
- Private sector investments 19
- Research and Innovation 20
- Key research institutions and start-up companies 20
- Research commercialization 21
- Business and Economic Support Infrastructure 23
- Land & Infrastructure 24
- Construction activity 26
- Industrial land, office space, real estate development 27
- Investment incentives and opportunities 29
- Municipal investment priorities 29
- Development Opportunities 31
- ICT 32
- Biotechnology 33
- Key Take-aways 34
- Contact Information 35
