TIRANA, May 25 – Albania is among the countries most reliant on tourism and as such, its economy will be hit significantly by the coronavirus pandemic.
According to a recent report by the Visual Capitalist, Albania, along with Montenegro, Croatia and Greece are the countries in Europe that rely on tourism the most.
The Visual Capitalist report looks at just 45 countries around the world whose economies are heavily reliant on tourism. Islands seem to have take the lead, such as Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Maldives, where over 60 percent of the economy depends on tourism. Compared to all other countries, Albania ranks 30th, with 22 percent of the economy relying on tourism, following Montenegro (33%) and Croatia (25%).
“Worldwide, 44 countries rely on the travel and tourism industry for more than 15% of their total share of employment. Unsurprisingly, many of the countries suffering the most economic damage are island nations,” the report reads.
Other institutions have also warned that Albania may face major economic slowdown largely due to its reliance on the tourism sector. According to EBRD’s latest Regional Economic Prospects report, the country’s economy is expected to contract by 9.0 percent in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier, the World Bank published a report foreseeing that the economy will contract by about 5 percent, under the baseline scenario.
