TIRANA, August 25
Albania hosted 387,000 international visitors as of the end of July, down from 1.1 million in the same period last year, the Institute of Statistics (INSTAT) confirmed on Monday. The data show that the numbers decreased by 67.1 percent due to travel restriction and quarantine requirements in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, the total number of Albanian and international arrivals during July declined by 61.5 percent. Hence, in July Albania welcomed a total of over 663,000 visitors down from 1.7 million in July 2019.
Meanwhile, the arrivals of Albanian and international visitors during January-July 2020 dropped respectively by 49.7 percent and 64.7 percent.
The report does not include detailed information on the top tourist destinations in Albania during 2020. Coastal cities on the Adriatic Sea, the Albanian Riviera, UNESCO World Heritage Sites such as Butrinti, Gjirokastra, and Berat, and the Northern Region are among the most visited destination in Albania. Yet, new innovative models of sustainable tourism are needed given that coastal tourism is highly affected by seasonality and lacks integrated planning and management approaches. Tourists nowadays are becoming more responsible and have a broader understanding of their travel impact. On the other hand, the COVID-19 pandemic pointed out the connection between habitat and biodiversity loss and mass pandemics.
“It is imperative that we rebuild tourism in a safe, equitable, and climate-friendly way.” António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations
“A number of researchers today think that it is actually humanity’s destruction of biodiversity that creates the conditions for new viruses and diseases such as Covid-19,” the Guardian reported. This and other burning issues will affect the choices of travelers that are looking for ways to satisfy their needs for recreation and discovery while being kind and supportive to nature and socio-economic development of the places their visit.
Most Tourists came from Kosovo
Citizens of Kosovo accounted for 43 percent of arrivals during January- July followed by citizens of North Macedonia, and Greece.
Read also: Medical Tourism, Finding the Fountain of Youth in Albania
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Source: INSTAT
Ricardo Fahrig says
When the minister met with tour operators from Tirana and Vlorë last week, Klosi expected to be heralded as the saviour of tourism in the year of Covid-19 and refuses to acknowledge realities that could tarnish his image. By choosing not to see and address these issues the damage to the tourism sector increases by the month.
Speaking from the perspective of an incoming tour operator, who receives foreign visitors to the country, and as a member of the Association of Albanian Tour Operators (ATOA), where members share the same experience, we greatly fear that the lost of human capital will plunge tourism into a second prolonged crises.
Most operators have either furloughed or already let go of their office staff. Guides as freelancers had no income since the autumn of 2019 and may choose to change due to the lack of support their profession or worse, equipped with language skills and previous stays, emigrate abroad. We’re at the verge or loosing years of experience in a sector that lacks qualified work force, only recently developed but already contributes greatly to the GDP of the country. Once tourism returns, the sector won’t be able to serve visitors, which creates negative effects for the economy long beyond the pandemic.
International arrivals also only paint a rough picture. Charters from Eastern Europe may have brought a number of low cost travelers, but due to the high number of infections the vast majority of high-spending countries upholds travel advisory against Albania till today. This may not be obvious but travel advisory automatically voids any kind of insurance. This forces tour operators abroad to cancel all plans for Albania and pushes individual travelers to reconsider, many of which are banned by their employer to travel to what is designated as risk areas. As a result all organized travel from these countries ceased in 2020 and the lower per day and person spending of regional visitors, who are focused on leisure but leave out cultural and adventure travel, cannot replace this. The course of Albania may have allowed for visitors from neighboring countries and a limited number of Eastern Europeans to arrive, but at the same time prohibited almost all Western travelers.
I hope that the government will recognize that supporting the incoming tourism sector is a sound investment that will see immediate returns once travel resumes or in the absence of measures harm the economy for years to come. Also new or enforced policy measures are needed to ascertain that all foreign travelers can return to Albania n the next season. Tourism businesses can only last so long without them. This season was destructive and the lessons learned will hopefully create better outcomes in the future.