“The whole work targets turning Albania into a tourist destination by making full use of national resources, the beauty of Albania’s landscape, the cultural and historical heritage, hospitality, the historical and cultural values,” says Tourism Minister Gjermeni.
TIRANA, Feb. 19 – The Albanian government is working on a new law on tourism and a mid-term strategy in the tourism sector which has been facing crisis impacts in the past four years.
“The whole work targets turning Albania
into a tourist destination by making full use of national resources, the beauty of Albania’s landscape, the cultural and historical heritage, hospitality, the historical and cultural values by respecting environment protection and promoting sustainable tourism to decently represent the country,” Gjermeni told VoA in the local Albanian service in an interview this week.
The new tourism law aims at setting standards, classifying and licensing tourism operators and offering fair competition and policies supporting the sector.
“In parallel with the review of the law and the preparation of the strategy, we are concretely working on the upcoming tourist season,we are also working on a new image for tourist Albania by improving the country’s image through a clear strategy,” says Gjermeni.
The new image will be built through participation in international fairs, promotional coverage in international media by introducing the particular thing about Albania in the region and Europe.
“Tourism should be developed to bring employment and further develop the Albanian economy to bring more welfare to Albanian citizens,” she said.
Speaking about the demolition of illegal constructions in southern Albania, Gjermeni, who is also in charge of urban development, said the campaign targets giving an end to chaotic and spontaneous tourism development.
“The demolition of illegal constructions, mainly in southern Albania has started also because of tourism development, targeting the reestablishment of territory development control in Albania, also facilitating tourism development, by creating a new model of sustainable development, and giving an end to uncontrolled and spontaneous.”
“There can be no tourism development without urban development and the development of tourism positively influe- nces on Albania’s urban development,” said Gjermeni.
The new tourism strategy covers the 2014-2020 period. Only few of the targets set in the previous 2007-2013 strategy were met.
Higher tax burden
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.
The Albanian Tourism Association said the increase in the tax burden will make the Albanian tourism industry less competitive compared to other regional countries where VAT on the tourism sector ranges from 5 to 8 percent. The Association expected VAT on tourism to drop to 10 percent under the new fiscal package as promised by the current government during the electoral campaign.
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.
Tourism revenue declining
Albania continues earning less from the tourism sector despite authorities reporting rising number of visitors. Meanwhile, spending on trips abroad registered an increase in the first three quarters of 2013.
Tourism revenue during the first three quarters of 2013 reached 760 million euros, down from 876 million euros during the first three quarters of 2012, 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. Despite crisis impacts, Albanians have increased spending on trips abroad during. 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 2012.
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.
Ethnic Albanians from Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro account for three- fifths of foreign tourists visiting Albania, with local experts often refer to this market as ‘patriotic tourism.’
