TIRANA, Nov. 24 – The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) says Albania needs reliable statistics and scientific data on tourism. Speaking at a joint press conference with Prime Minister Sali Berisha on Wednesday, UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai said reliable and solid data were essential for Albania, a country which had only 300,000 tourists few years ago, but 3.5 million last year.
The comments came after a seminar on “Tourism as a tool for sustainable regional development” addressing the current situation and the latest trends of tourism in the world and in particularly South Eastern European countries.
Government statistics on foreign visitors, excluding Albanian immigrants who hold Albanian citizenship and are residents in different host countries, show some 549,105 tourists or 26,908 people more, visited Albanian during the first half of this year. The Tourism Ministry says the figure for the first six months of this year marked a 5.2 percent increase compared to the same period in 2009 and 77 percent compared to 2006.
The biggest number of tourists during the first half of 2010 came from neighbouring countries, with Macedonia topping the list with 21 percent, followed by Kosovo with 19 percent, Montenegro 12 percent, Italy 8 percent, Greece 8 percent, Serbia 4 percent, UK and Germany 3 percent each.
Previous Tourism Ministry data including Albanian immigrants showed some also showed some 2.5 million people visited Albania during the January-August period this year, of whom 1.7 million were foreigners and 855,000 Albanian non-residents. Summer data show a record 1.3 million people visited Albania during the July 1 to August 15 period, 32 percent more than the same period in 2009. The reopening of the Kalimash tunnel linking Albania and Kosovo in the shortest possible way last summer played a significant role.
Pledging support to make Albania a success story in tourism, UNWTO’s Rifai said that Albania is a really virgin and unexplored destination, warning that it should draw lessons from the mistakes other countries have made by following an independent and responsible road to further develop the industry, both coastal and mountain areas. He said Albania’s tourism should show responsibility towards the society, the culture of this country and be environmentally friendly.
Promising that Albania will be the host of an international tourism event next year, the senior World Tourism Organization official said the specialized UN agency expected stronger ties in Southeast-European countries infrastructure which would facilitate travel in the region.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Berisha said Albania has all the opportunities to build the new 21st century sustainable tourism and become an inspiring model to be followed by other countries.
Pointing out Albania’s favourable geographical position, its natural beauties and rich cultural heritage, Berisha said that Albanian tourism had grown by 11 times during the past 6 years. Admitting damage to the country’s biggest coastal areas because of illegal constructions, the Premier said that “fortunately 92 percent of the coastline and most mountain areas remain virgin and are waiting for better development standards.”
According to WTO, some 31 European countries including Israel do not require a visa to enter Albania and can even use IDs.
The seminar
The countries of South Eastern Europe are set to become major tourist destinations over the coming years. Rich in cultural heritage, the region boasts some of the world’s most picturesque and vibrant towns and cities, said the UNWTO in its seminar announcement. The cultural and historical heritage that has survived highlights distinct cultural corridors that provided with the new political, economic and social opportunities for the development of countries in the region. This initiative highlighted the importance of thorough planning, active engagement of the business community and strong partnerships among community-based organizations, local governments and regional development agencies.
“It is understood that tourism if properly administered, carefully planned and developed with responsibility can significantly contribute to sustainable regional development.”
The Seminar on “Tourism as a tool for sustainable regional development” jointly organized by UNWTO and the Albanian Ministry of Tourism and supported by SNV Albania constituted a step towards highlighting the role of tourism in improving economic and social situation in the less developed regions by creating significant opportunities to diversify the local economy and bringing economic benefits to the regions with limited options for alternative economic development. It explained the role public sector, private sector, the civil society and relevant collaborative processes, and laid the groundwork for elaboration of development strategies integrating tourism as one of the key factors for sustainable regional development.
The UNWTO said the seminar also served as a platform to discuss economic regional development in South Eastern Europe and the role of tourism in this endeavour, allowing the participants to have an active role in the generation of recommendations and suggestions as well as give them the opportunity to benefit from the experience and ideas of the experts and representatives from the participating countries.
This seminar was addressed to representatives of national and local governments, tourism boards, destination management organisations, accommodation providers, tour operators, local communities, academics and researchers, hotel and tourism associations, development agencies, and Non-Governmental Organizations working in the field of tourism and local economic development.
Tourism performance
Statistics by the National Tourism Agency show Albania was visited by 3 million people in 2009, registering a 34 percent increase compared to the previous year.
Of the 3 million tourists in 2009, only 1.78 million were foreigners. Most of them stayed in Albania for one or a few days. The remaining 1.2 million tourists were Albanian immigrants, residents in foreign countries.
“This will be the first year in Albania’s history that the number of visitors exceeds the number of population (some 3.5 million),” said Berisha last summer, attributing the positive results to infrastructural investments which exceed 1 billion euros.
Bank of Albania data show travel expenditure during this year dropped to 177 million euros during the first quarter of 2010 and 243 million euros during the second quarter compared with 222 million and 297 million euros respectively during the first two quarters of 2009.
However, tourism revenue during this summer remain to be seen in the third quarter statistics which will make available the central bank’s report on the two peak months of July and August.
Few days ago, Lonely Planet which placed Albania as the top choice in its list of the 10 vacation spots to visit in 2011,
Tourism will remain a top priority in the 2011 budget along with continued increase of wages and pensions and infrastructure development.
Under the 2011 budget, government plans to spend 230 million lek on tourism development, some 67 million lek less compared to the 2010 revised budget, according to Finance Ministry data.
