Albania

Albania is not new as an attractive destination to foreign visitors. 2-3 centuries ago, when the tourists were called “travelers”, Albania had attracted the interest of many of them. Lord Byron, the famous British poet dedicated to Albanians two hundred years ago the second canto of his poem “Childe Harold” due to his lasting impression of a visit in Albania. Same with others like Fransua Pukeville, Edith Durham, diplomats, researchers, explorers, etc. Their common understanding was an appreciation of Albanian hospitality, generosity, loyalty, and courage.

Touristic Albania offers today a unique and multi-dimensional opportunity for any traveler. A riviera with golden beaches, blue waters, isolated bays and lagoons across a sandy and rocky coastline of four-hundred-fifty kilometers, traditional villages, dramatic mountain landscapes, Mediterranean fruits and vegetation, amazing local food, agro-touristic destinations, etc. make Albania a destination of best choice for an authentic and unforgettable experience. More than 26 percent of our nature is a protected area.

We aim that our tourism, including the nature, environment, culture, sports, etc., in combination and alteration of each-other will be extended during the whole year, offering unique travel experience for the modern-day travelers.

But nature is not everything, because Albania has a history and culture that offers extraordinary cultural values from the time of Illyrians, Greco-Roman antiquity, Byzantine period, Ottoman past, traces and trails of communist time through a material culture like churches, museums, archeologic sites, castles, etc. which can be found across the country together with three UNESCO sites of Berat Gjirokaster, and Butrint. Last but not least, not forgetting Tirana, a center of olden times, and modernity. Cultural itineraries have been created, and touristic sites of greatest attraction are defined.

Today Albania has reached the highest number of foreign tourists, with 7.5 million last year, and 59% more than the same period of last year only for the first three months of this year. We are receiving increased international attention through promotion in the most popular media.

This is coming very naturally, and in a sustainable way, encouraging the most popular media, from CNN to BBC, Corriere, Liberacion, Di Velt, Shtern, etc. to pay more attention to Albania.

As a result of this, we are having the highest growth of tourism flows with Norwegian tourists increased by 285 percent, Spanish tourists increased by 260 percent; Dutch by 204 percent, Slovenians by 120 percent, etc. compared to 2021.

Therefore, side by side with the

· beaches, natural parks, national parks

· rivers and lakes,

· camping, biking, hiking, boating, diving, rafting, sailing, fishing, bird watching, etc.

We are developing since this year a calendar of cultural tourism. The reformed National Agency of Tourism that I chair since almost 3-months, has been tasked to:

· Promote tourism in general, and all specific types of tourism in an integrated way

· Promote, plan, coordinate cultural tourism through a calendar of events, and cultural packages.

· Serve as a regulatory institution of cultural events that can qualify for touristic destinations.

The calendar of cultural tourism will cover all categories of audiences, offering cultural events which are suitable to:

– local tourists

– foreign tourists

– all types of tourists

Tourists will be exposed to cultural events tailor-made for a touristic season, like

· Festivals, concerts, performances on touristic sites Material and performing art folklore

· Handcrafting, books, and movies

· Carnivals, outdoors theatre of traditional legends

· Museums, churches, other historical and cultural monuments

Nature and culture present will be the brand of tourism for us. They have always paired together in the Albanian context, and have backed each-other. Therefore, nature and culture could be a unique and symbolic brand of the Albanian tourism.

A tourism brand is essential to help take tourism marketing to the next level in a way that is classy, straight forward, charming, effortless, attractive, and yet elegant at the same time.

Creating a memorable brand experience is crucial to make a lasting impression in this crowded market. We can create a powerful narrative around our brand that can help us to create a deeper emotional connection and much more memorable.

We are following various ways to effective marketing and promotion to create a lasting impression. While digital marketing channels and online advertising have become increasingly popular in recent years, the human interaction and power of face-to-face engagement will still remain unique. We will continue to engage with potential customers, promote our products, and sell the positive image for our brand through events like fairs, trade shows, and promotional activities of this kind. This way, you can create a personalized experience for the customers, answer questions, and provide information about our products in a way which is engaging and memorable.

Bridging destinations

The idea of bridging destinations is one that can give a boost to sustainable tourism, and ensures a horizontal cooperation among countries, primary the neighboring countries.

We see the developing of bridging in two stages. First stage is that we can promote our country destinations in our region as one destination, which is our region, the Balkans. Although the tourists can be in Montenegro or Albania, or another country in this region, they will remember best that they were in the Balkans.

The next stage could be to offer specific products of historic destinations, or cultural destinations that cover 2, 3, or more countries across Balkans.

This way we can become even more attractive, because this is something that tourists may appreciate, but it can also result of benefit for our countries too.

This can bring our countries even closer, local governments, private companies, and citizens too. There are studies already prepared by different academic institutions in Europe, and the Balkans appears to be privileged for to apply quickly bridging the destinations.

Sustainable tourism

Albania offers opportunities for tourism sustainability. It can be sustained during the whole year, and cover the four seasons. Tourism industry in Albania can also resist to various kinds of crises, especially the national disasters. Our past experience showed that an earthquake in winter, and a pandemic in spring could not destroy the whole touristic season. It was able to survive the disasters, and revive in a short time.

Albanian government has adopted various policies to facilitate the business of tourism in Albania, beginning with constant improvement and renovation of infrastructure, two to three airports are underway, marinas in Durres and Vlore, the new port of Durres, etc.

Going on with a continuous release of fiscal burden of private businesses in tourism like hotels, restaurants, guest houses, agencies, domestic transport, small and medium enterprises in general, such as VAT, corporate income tax, taxes on infrastructure and building, etc.