Although tourism revived in the first half of this year, it still remains below pre-crisis levels.
According to the balance of payments statistics published by the Bank of Albania, which measures the travel balance (expenditures made by foreigners in Albania and those made by Albanians abroad), expenditures of foreigners in Albania reached 687 million euros in the first 6 months of this year, with a decrease of 20%, or 167 million euros less, compared to January-June, 2019, which so far holds the record as the best year so far for tourism.
State Institute of Statistics of Albania reported that for the same period about 1.7 million foreign nationals entered the country, with a contraction of 21% compared to January-June 2019. The share of tourists from Kosovo increased to about 50%, from over 30% in the period when the movement was normal, somewhat amortizing the non-arrival of tourists from the countries of Western and Eastern Europe.
The data of the Bank of Albania show that the gap with the pre-crisis has started to narrow in the second quarter of the year, while the contraction was 11.6% in relation to the respective period, from 31% in the first quarter.
Summer has brought another panorama for tourism in the country, surpassing the 2019 level. The latest data from Tirana International Airport (TIA), where a significant part of tourists from Europe (excluding the region) come from, revealed that for the period July-August 2021, a total of about 983 thousand passengers traveled (entry-exit), with an increase of 21.3% compared to the same period of 2019, which so far had been the best year of tourism. While in relation to July-August 2020, when the country was suffering the consequences of the crisis, the enlargement is about 76%.
In July alone, passenger traffic was 9.6% higher than in the same month of 2019 (+ 70% with 2020), while in August the growth was stronger at almost 32% (+ 82% with the same month of 2020-s).
Albanians "saved" 300 million euros from road closures
Only in the summer months of this year, European Union countries began to gradually lift travel restrictions for Albanian citizens. While in the first 6 months, the outflows of Albanian citizens were about 36% lower than the same period of 2019.
As a result, the expenditures of Albanians abroad have marked a significant contraction. They were about 400 million euros for the period January-June 2021, with a contraction of 43% compared to the first six months of 2019, or about 300 million euros less.