Albanian tourism is critical to the economy and has many problems to overcome

DURRES, VLORA, May. 14 – The summer tourist season has officially started in Albania. With temperatures at a high of around 30 degrees, the seaside has already started to welcome the first weekend hordes looking for sun and water. The Albanian coastline has a variety of beaches from sandy to rocky and several towns starting from Velipoja in the north up to the southern point of Saranda that are important tourist destinations in the summer. A national conference addressing the need to enhance tourist activities and improve Albania’s tourism services at the eve of the summer tourism season was organized last month by the Ministry of Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports. The event was attended by Prime Minister Berisha and also Interior Minister Nishani, transportation Minister Basha as well as diplomats, tourism agencies representatives, and others. The ministers presented measures put in place to assure a smooth tourism season. It was noted during the meetings that tourism is a critical part of the Albanian economy, having grown to become the second largest contributor to the GDP. Berisha explained that last year brought improvements in tourism including a 30 percent increase in revenues that brought the country over 600 million euro. Some of the problems that this industry is facing, though, have the potential to place several tourist sites is in serious jeopardy.