Albania to hold first winter tourism fair

TIRANA, Dec. 3 – Targeting to keep Albanian tourists home for the winter holidays, the National Tourism Agency is for the first time organizing a winter tourism trade fair showcasing destinations where Albanians can spend their year-end holidays. Some 40 tourism operators will be showcasing their holiday packages in the winter tourism fair scheduled to be held on Sunday, December 8 at the Sheraton Hotel in Tirana.
Julinda Dhame, the director of the National Tourism Agency, says the target is to inform Albanians of the destinations and capacities Albania offers during winter. “We have focused on hotels, restaurants, inns in mountain tourism areas such as Tropoja, Kor衬 LLogara, Dajt, Theth etc,” she says.
“Every Albanian who wants to spend the holidays home can find appropriate places for food and accommodation as well as sports and different events,” said Dhame in her appeal.
Winter registers the lowest number of foreign tourists in Albania and a considerable number of Albanians travel abroad to spend the year-end holidays.
Albania continued earning less from the tourism sector despite the tourism authorities reporting around 1 million foreign tourists visiting Albania in the first half of this year, up 15 percent compared to the same period last year. During the first half of 2013, tourism revenue registered 398 million euros, down from 431 million euros in the first half of 2012, registering a 7.7 percent decline, in a performance similar to that of the first half of 2007 just before the onset of the global financial crisis, according to Bank of Albania data.