Govt Asks the WB to Support Tourism Sector with $71 mln

TIRANA, August 16

The Albanian Government will borrow about 71 million dollars from the World Bank (WB) in order to support the regional development of the southern region. The Project for Integrated Urban and Tourism Development will support a package of activities aimed at improving urban infrastructure with catalytic urban upgrading efforts, aimed at enhancing the attractiveness and livability of key primary and specialized urban centres, enhancing the touristic appeal and sustainable management of cultural heritage assets, and investing in municipal capacity to deliver services and carry out, in partnership with the national government and the private sector, tourism destination management.
According to the information provided by the WB, a number of obstacles are preventing the south of Albania from realizing its full economic potential. First, basic urban infrastructure is inadequate to meet residents’ needs and growing tourism demand, existing assets are deteriorating due to a lack of maintenance and newly created municipalities lack the capacity to deliver supporting services in a sustainable way.
Second, despite the rich asset base available, tourism activities are concentrated over a short period of time, not sufficiently diversified and are dominated by high-volume & low-value local and regional markets.
Third, tourism activities, both at the national and local level, are not supported or managed in a coordinated way. Southern Albania is considered a priority given its unique natural resources and cultural heritage assets and its potential to further develop tourism as a driver of local, regional and national economic growth.

News Source: Scan TV