Economic Centre of the Region
Currently, the city of Krakow is inhabited by 803 000 regular residents, although every year it also becomes home to several thousand visitors who hold temporary residence here, mostly students. It is the second largest city in Poland. Not only is it the administrative hub of the Małopolska Voivodeship, but it also forms a supra-regional academic and economic centre – a valuable business partner for investors. The city is a host to branches of international banks, business associations and chambers of commerce (e.g. British-Polish Chamber of Commerce, American Chamber of Commerce, Krakow Merchants Association, Krakow Chamber of Commerce and Industry). Its business credibility and overall standing is further corroborated by high credit rating scores.
The city’s business significance is further backed up by the demographic potential of the region at large, i.e. within just a 100 km radius of the city there is a permanent population of ca. 8,000,000. This alone constitutes a particularly keen potential market for assorted goods and services. Another major asset lies in the fact that ca. 60% of Kraków’s regular residents are still below 45 years of age.
Krakow also boasts a very convenient geographical location, straddling an intersection of major routes, in close proximity to the mining region of Upper Silesia and the southern border of the country. Several on-going traffic infrastructure projects are progressively improving road access to the city. The A4 motorway provides a fast link to the Upper Silesia region and further on with Germany in the west, whereas in the near future it will also link Kraków with the city of Lviv (Ukraine) in the east.
The city’s openness to the world is further enhanced by the modern Kraków International Airport, still undergoing expansion, which is the country's second largest airport and which facilitates regular connections with a great many destinations, both European and intercontinental.
A well developed railway network facilitates fast and comfortable rail links. It takes just 2.5 hours to get to Warsaw, and just 6 hours to the coastal city of Gdańsk. Within just a few hours one can easily make it to Vienna, Prague, Bratislava, Berlin or Budapest.
The continuously modernised and still being expanded coach network facilitates effective transportation within the region and throughout the country, as well as regularly reaching out to a number of major destinations abroad.
Nowadays, when capital can flow in and out of the country unrestricted, Kraków has become a particularly attractive venue for locating numerous business ventures. Its attractive locality and rich and varied real estate, combined with a highly developed business services sector and impressive research-and-development infrastructure, constitute just a few of the key arguments in favour of opting for Kraków as a top investment venue.
Welcome to Krakow - a city steeped in rich historical tradition which harmoniously blends in with all the modern day challenges, where a natural reverence for age-old heritage walks hand in hand with the dynamic development of modern technologies and the creative ingenuity of all those who live and work here. A city that makes you feel this is just the right place to work, live and simply enjoy yourself...