Go South

Petar H., thirty years of age, from Skopje, plumber by trade, did not see the advertisement of the Albanian Riviera on CNN International. Petar H did not see either the first or the second advertisement. All he saw was an invitation of a tourist agency in Skopje, which amongst the many holiday destinations it promoted also offered the Albanian Riviera to tourists. So he opted for a holiday in Albania. He chose Vlora, the starting point of the Riviera. It is quite close, cross the border and you’re three hours away from Vlora. Petar H is one of the tens of thousands of Macedonians who chose the Albanian Riviera this year for a holiday. Unconfirmed data indicates that at least two hundred thousand citizens from the FYROM chose Albania this summer for their annual holidays. That figure was indeed a pleasant surprise this season for private operators in the business of tourism in Albania. Usually when the private tourist companies in Albania referred to tourism from the neighboring countries they pined hopes on so-called ethnical or patriotic tourism; Albanians from Kosova or from the FYROM. But it appears that the big surprise of this season was the influx of citizens of the FYROM who belonged to the other ethnical group and not the Albanian community. The Albanian Ministry of Tourism also seemed taken aback with the fact that following the two very expensive advertisements on the CNN, the Albanian beaches were invaded by citizens from the neighboring country of the FYROM. Some explain this “invasion” of the Albanian Riviera by Macedonian citizens as connected to the current context of FYROM’s relations with Greece and Bulgaria. Bulgaria, as a member of the European Union, has greatly tightened its visa regime against non-member countries, including FYROM, shutting off the access Macedonians had to the Black Sea. Whereas regarding Greece, FYROM’s other neighbor, apart from the visa regime, the current strained relations between the two countries have not helped matters either this summer. Petar H., plumber from Skopje who chose the Albanian Riviera for his holidays this year, said he is fed up with the way Greece treats his country. “They obstructed us from joining NATO and behave towards us like they are our patrons.” It is quite on the cards that this political context in the Balkans at the moment favored Albanian tourism this season. The Macedonians are, however, not the only ones to discover the Albanian Riviera for the first time. The tens of thousands of other tourists include Germans, Austrians, Czechs and even Italians and Greeks. Suzan F., German owner of a beautiful hotel at Brela, 150 kilometers from Dubrovnik, Croatia, says she is becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the business she is in. It immensely astonished Suzan F. when she saw that the occasional Czech or Slovak tourist overnighted at her hotel, but were en route to Albania. The German Hotel proprietor asks, “Can this coastline possibly be compared to the Albanian coastline?” With the information she has access to, Suzan F may be right. She has never set eyes on the Albanian Riviera. The Albanian Riviera is a new destination for European tourists. The Albanian Riviera is a virgin holiday area.
For example, if you go south to Dh쳭i and its stunning beaches, its surroundings have a Robinson Crusoe effect on you.
This, however, is only one side of the coin. The flip side has been reflected in the thousands of notes jotted down by foreign holiday makers; the flip side is the roads, the standards of services at hotels and restaurants and the prices.