The UNESCO World Heritage site of Gjirokastra, one of the most visited touristic cities in Albania, has become one of the cities that is suffering more the consequences of the pandemic in Albania. According to BIRN, the city is facing multiple crises, which have all in common the same enemy: COVID-19. Initially, while the numbers of COVID-19 positive cases in Gjirokastra were relatively low, the focus of the city was on the blow that the tourism sector had received due to the long curfews and safety measures introduced all over the world, including Albania. In 2020, around 28 thousand tourists visited Gjirokastra, a number which is 75% lower than in 2019, when the city saw a record number of 115 thousand visitors.
Although the months of July and August gave a glimpse of hope for a return to normality, since tourists (mostly Albanians) started to come again and visit the city, it didn’t take long for the optimism to fade away. After August the number of tourists started to drop, and the pandemic began to spread in higher numbers compared to the previous months. The COVID-19 cases exploded especially in November when the city saw a rise of the overall infections from 129 to 428 in just 20 days. According to the opposition, one of the reasons that contributed to the rise of infections was a parade of old cars, “Retro”, which drew a lot of attention and visitors in Gjirokastra in late October. The Mayor of the city, Flamur Golemi, considered the accusations baseless considering that the city had taken all the preventive measures against COVID-19, emphasizing the fact that the parade was held in open space. Golemi explained the infections rate in Gjirokastra as influenced by the rise of tests, and by the opening of the schools.
During the last months of 2020, after the growing number of infections, even the inhabitants of Gjirokastra became reluctant to go out in the city for fear of the virus, deepening the crisis of the bars, restaurants, hotels and many other small businesses. According to the tax sector, 111 businesses were closed in 2020, and 81 new businesses were opened in Gjirokastra. “The tourism sector is the most damaged by the pandemic […] Not only we are staying closed, but we are witnessing also a move of the qualified personnel to Tirana or outside the country, ” said the head of the Chamber of Commerce in Gjirokastra, Maksi Hoxha to BIRN.
As of 14th of January, Gjirokastra has 35.1 infection cases per 1,000 inhabitants, leaving behind even Tirana, which has 31.9 cases per 1,000 inhabitants. The only good news is that the city has seen again a reduction of new daily infections cases, with just 3.8 cases per day in January, after counting around 15 new cases per day in November.
