TIRANA, April 26 – Search engine giant Google has announced it will soon offer its Street View service for Albania and upgrade the country’s Google Maps, which is expected to benefit the country’s tourism industry as it prepares to open its new summer season. Starting April 29, Google Street View cars will start touring and 360 degree photographing some of the country’s main tourist destinations such as Tirana, Durres, Saranda as well as key cultural heritage sites, such as the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Butrint, Gjirokastra and Berat.
“We have heard from many of our Albania users that they look forward to using the ‘Street View’ service. That’s why we are happy to announce the launch of the trip and the discovery of Albania’s most beautiful roads and sites for our users all over the world. The Albanian companies and users will also benefit from the best of this service,” said Antony Mcloughlin, a Google Street View manager as quoted in a statement.
Albanian Innovation Minister Milena Harito hailed the initiative, saying it will benefit the country’s emerging tourism industry.
“Street View will offer better access to the visual information of the beauty of our cities, the coastline and mountain ranges and serve to promote tourism development in Albania and introduce the much important cultural heritage,” she said.
Albania’s Commissioner for Personal Data Protection says the service will be offered by protecting privacy.
In order to protect privacy, Google Street View blurs parts of images containing car number plates and human faces.
The Street View service, launched in 2007 is now available in more than 65 countries having covered more than 7 million miles in seven continents. In the Western Balkan region, the service is not yet available for Albania, Montenegro, Kosovo and Macedonia.
With one month to go before Albania’s summer tourist season kicks off, several prestigious media and travel portals have recommended Albania as a secret treasure and off-the-radar destination.
In late 2015, prestigious French newspaper Le Figaro placed Albania as one of the top five global destinations for 2016. Featuring a picture of the ancient Rozafa castle in the northern city of Shkodra, Le Fiagaro said Albania will surprise everybody just like it did with its first-ever qualification in a major football competition such as France 2016.
Tourism has emerged as one of the top industries in the country, directly employing more than 50,000 people and accounting for 6 percent of the GDP.
Travel income slightly rose to a historic high of €1.35 billion in 2015 when Albania was visited by 4.1 million foreign tourists.
