Municipality of Hersonisos

Demographic Characteristics

The Municipality of Hersonisos is one of the Municipalities of the Region of Crete, as established by the Kallikratis Program. The Municipality of Hersonisos [MoH] is composed by four municipality Units [Municipality Unit of Gouves, Municipality Unit of Hersonisos, Municipality Unit of Episkopi and Municipality Unit of Malia]. The  area of the New Municipality is 271.58 square kilometers. Furthermore according to the census of 2011,  the actual  population of the Municipality of Hersonisos is approximately 53.337 people.

The Municipality of Hersonisos is located centrally at the North Coast of the island of Crete.  The MoH is adjacent to the Municipality of Heraklion, which is the capital of Crete, and lies proximal to the hub-airport Nikos Kazantzakis. 

The MoH comprises of the  - more than 38 Kilometers -  coastal area and the inland mountainous province.  The main income source for people in the coastal area is the tourism industry.  The MoH is one of the major touristic destinations in Greece, hosting 6.5% of Greece’s tourist influx and numbering approximately 5-6 million overnight stays annually (Period between 2007 – 2009).  Tourism infrastructure includes high quality hotels and accommodation businesses, as well as blue flag awarded beaches. 

Moreover, the main income source in the Inland Province is the agricultural activities, mainly focusing on olive oil, wine production and animal husbandry.