Fewer tourists visited Albania in peak tourist season

TIRANA, Jan. 22 – A decline by 18.3 percent in the number of foreign tourists was the main cause for the shrink in tourism revenue in the third quarter of 2013. INSTAT data show some 1 million foreigners visited Albania in the third quarter of 2013, which is the peak season, down 18.3 percent compared to the same period in 2012. The overwhelming majority of tourists, some 81 percent entered Albania by land, 10 percent travelled by air and the remaining part by sea.
INSTAT says almost all foreigners, some 99.4 percent, visited Albania on holiday, to meet friends and relatives, but also on medical and religious purposes. Foreigners coming on business trips accounted for only 0.6 percent of total tourists.
INSTAT data show some 1.3 million Albanians left Albania in the third quarter of 2013, down 6.4 percent compared to the same period in 2012.
Tourism revenue during the first three quarters of this year reached 760 million euros, down from 876 million euros during the first three quarters of last year, registering a decrease of 14 percent, according to central bank data.
Tourism revenue declined for the third year in a row in 2012 despite government reporting a significant boom in the number of tourists visiting Albania. Central bank data show tourism revenue in 2012 slightly dropped to 1.145 billion Euros, down Euro 24 million or 2 percent compared to 2011. Affected by crisis, tourism revenues have been on a downward trend since 2009 when it registered its peak rate of Euro 1.3 billion.
Ethnic Albanians from Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro account for three-fifths of foreign tourists visiting Albania, according to a report published by the Tourism Ministry.
Despite crisis impacts, Albanians have increased spending on trips abroad during this year. Spending on trips abroad rose to 801 million euros in the first three quarters of 2013, up from 747 million euros during the same period last year.
Central bank data show Albanians spent 1 billion euros in trips abroad in 2012, down from Euro 1.169 billion in 2011 and Euro 1.227 billion in 2010.
Albania lost six places in the 2013 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index, ranking worse to its regional competitors mainly due to poor business environment and infrastructure. The report published by the World Economic Forum surveying 140 global economies ranked Albania 77th, compared to 71st a couple of years ago, with a total score of 3.97 on a 1-to-7 scale, sandwiched between Ukraine and Armenia, leaving behind only landlocked Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Moldova among European countries.
Albania’s tourism operators say the new fiscal package which left the value added tax on the tourism industry unchanged at 20 percent and increased the income tax for mid-sized and big enterprises to 15 percent will further complicate the situation in the tourism industry which has been suffering a shrink in revenues in the past four years.