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| Rama speaking at the Fair |
The First National Fair of Adventure Sports was opened on the Youth Day at the premises of the Olympic Park of Tirana, an initiative and organization of the Ministry of Tourism and Environment.
Adventure sports are activities with a growing spread among young people, combining sport, nature and tourism. Prime Minister Edi Rama, present at the inauguration of the Fair, guaranteed the government's support for the development of these activities with tremendous potential for tourism development and youth employment.
"The World Free Flight, which was held for the first time in our country this year, is attended by over 50 countries, with about 200 competitive pilots and 800 other accompanying participants. This activity was organized by the Albanian Aeronautics Federation in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and showed very clearly how precious is every opportunity to promote our tourism and cultural heritage and how great is this opportunity for Albania that is of those countries which God or nature has blessed with a very varied wealth. Thousands of tourists visited Albania during these activities to enjoy not only sport activity but also what nature offers and is very impressive that 4 out of 10 tourists in the World today choose adventure tourism. According to the ATA (Adventure Travel Trade Association) organization, Albania is the 5th country in Europe for the potentials to develop adventure tourism. Adventure tourists are really the most effective promotion tool for the destination they are visiting and are loyal promoters, who are constantly back to where they find what they seek through this type of tourism. I want to express my gratitude to all those who are here as practitioners, promoters and adventure tourism developers and I want to assure you that we will be more than ever in support of them and their activities because we strongly believe in this aspect in the entirety of the map of tourism development opportunities, and we are very conscious that there is a great potential for economic development and employment here." Rama said.Albania with its characteristics, emphasized the Prime Minister, is a precious destination for multidimensional tourism.
"The diverse relieve of Albania, the mountain and the sea, which in its considerable part is still of a virgin nature, makes Albania a country for which the ATA General Director rightly says:" This is a culturally precious stone hidden by the world. Here we have learned from people, from whom our history lessons have been trained to be afraid. Here, fears vanish, people are open, friendly, talk about coexistence, regardless of their religious affiliation and there is a wealth that many people would like to experience. "
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| Klosi speaking at the Fair |
While minister Blendi Klosi stated that adventure sports are a still unused space in its potential. During this year, said Klosi, adventure tourists in Albania have reached 30 thousand and according to World Bank statistics, in 2018 are expected more than 60 thousand. Our goal, Klosi stressed, is that within 2019 we intend to bring 100 thousand of people of adventure tourism, while in two years we can bring to the Albanian economy 110 million euros from just this tourist space.