TIRANA, Feb. 17 – Cruise tourism registered a significant boost in Albania last year when some 16 cruise ships with some 5,700 foreign tourists landed on Durres Port, the country’s biggest port.
Several other cruise ships are also reported to have visited the Vlora and Saranda ports in southern Albania.
Durres port authorities say they are optimistic this year will bring a higher number of cruise ship visitors, whose number peaks during summer.
“Cruise lines have scheduled to make eight visits to Durres Port with some 8,000 tourists only for the first five months of this year,” port officials said in a statement.
Ocean Majesty was the biggest cruise ship visiting Durres in 2014 when it brought around 800 tourists.
The Durres port was also visited by some 234 private yachts in 2014.
In their single-day visit to Albania, cruise ship tourists, most of whom come from the U.S and the U.K visit Durres, the neighbouring historic town of Kruja and the UNESCO World Heritage town of Berat.
After picking Albania as a top destination for 2012, the Globe and Mail, Canada’s largest national newspaper, also put the coastal city of Durres, Albania’s second biggest city, on top of the eight exciting new cruise ports to explore. Featuring a picture of crowded Durres beach, the Canadian newspaper describes Durres as “a handy jumping off point for tours of the coast and castle tours.”
“Durres, Albania: Here’s your chance to see Adriatic beach resorts that for years were heavily guarded enclaves of the country’s elite. Albania second-largest city is a handy jumping off point for tours of the coast and castle tours,” wrote Canada’s Globe and Mail.
Founded in the 7th century BC under the name Epidamnos, Durres has been continuously inhabited for 27 centuries and is one of the oldest cities in Albania. The city boasts a Roman amphitheatre of the 2nd century A.D, one of the largest in the Balkan.
