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| Coast in the South of Albania |
About 1.9 billion euros were spent by foreign tourists in Albania last year, almost twice as much as in the pandemic 2020.
Despite the improvement, especially in the second half of the year, the Bank of Albania data show that tourism has not yet fully recovered, as revenues from this sector were about 170 million euros lower than 2019, the golden year for the tourism industry with over 2 billion euros in revenue, as reported by local media.
Even in number, foreign visitors were almost 800 thousand less last year compared to the pre-crisis year, also as a result of the anti-Covid restrictive measures that states applied.
The inability to travel abroad has led Albanians to reduce their cross-border spending to 1.1 billion euros, from 1.5 billion euros they spent in 2019. This also marks the best historical net balance of tourism at over 800 million euros, ie the difference between the money brought by tourists and those spent by Albanians abroad.
But as tourism seemed to revive after being hit by the pandemic, the wave of rising prices could slow the sector's growth again.
The head of the Tourist Union, Rrahman Kasa, explains that this will mainly affect unorganized visitors, who may shrink significantly in number this year as a result of high prices that he says could double in the south of the country.
Other tourists who have already booked holidays in Albania, he adds, will face a reduction in the quality of service.
"We will have either a reduction in service or the cancellation of contracts knowing that many hotels are on credit and can not afford to respond to these guaranteed contracts. We can not have that expected number of tourists who will come in a disorganized way, because prices will be above their expectations, almost by 40-50%, so there will be a decrease. These visitors will be faced with this surprise where if hotel has been paid 100 euros per night last year, they will pay 150 euros South Albania, including Dhërmi, Himara and the whole riviera in my opinion will have double prices", says Rrahman Kasa, president of the Albanian Tourist Union.
After the Albanian-speaking tourists from Kosovo that occupy the main weight, this year, according to market operators, the Summer season will be based on Polish visitors.
"The traditional market is the Polish market, which this year has confirmed considerable numbers.