TIRANA, May 2 – More than 2.7 million foreign tourists visited Albania in 2011, up 18.7 percent compared to 2010, according to latest data published by the Tourism Ministry. Data show some 64 percent of these tourists come from Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro where ethnic Albanians are the majority or second largest communities with local experts often referring to this sector of the market as ‘patriotic tourism.’ While the ministry does not provide data on the length of the visitors’ stay, controversy arises over all these foreigners classified as tourists at a time when a considerable part of them spends less than 24 hours in Albania and are grouped as excursionists by international definitions.
Data show Kosovo citizens account for the majority 46 percent of foreign tourists to Albania, followed Macedonians with 12 percent, Montenegrin and Greek with 6 percent each, Italians 5 percent, British and German with 3 percent each.
If around 1.3 million Albanian migrants, residents mainly in Greece and Italy are included the number of visitors for 2011 reaches 4 million.
Despite government reporting a boom in tourists visiting Albania in the past couple of years, tourism revenues have not followed the same trend. Bank of Albania data show travel income dropped for the second year in a row after a record 1.3 billion euros in 2009. For 2011, the Bank of Albania reports around 1.17 billion euros in travel revenues, down 4.7 percent and 11.3 percent respectively compared to 2010 and 2009.
Boosted by the visa-free travel regime in the Schengen area in force since mid-December 2010, Albanians spent more in trips abroad in 2011 but yet less than in 2009 when they were required visas to travel abroad. Bank of Albania data show travel expenditure in 2011 rose by 8.7 percent to 1.12 billion euros, but was down 12 million euros compared to 2009 when the global crisis started being felt in Albania.
While the number of foreign tourists to Albania during the past five years has more than doubled, revenues from tourism, the most promising industry for Albania, have increased by only 50 percent. Tourism Ministry data show the number of foreign tourists visiting Albania from 2006 to 2010 increased by around 2.5 times reaching 2.3 million in 2010, up from 926,000 in 2006. Meanwhile, Bank of Albania data show revenues from tourism during this period have increased by only 52 percent, climbing to 1.2 billion Euros in 2010, up from 805 million Euros in 2006. Prime Minister Sali Berisha has offered tax-free opportunities for investments of up to eight years in return for investments in mountain areas.
VAT burden
During the past few years, the Albanian Tourism Association (ATA) has repeatedly demanded a cut in the value added tax (VAT) from 20 percent to 8 percent and a decrease in accommodation taxes paid to local government units from 5 to 1 percent. According to Albanian tourism operators, high taxes are being reflected on additional costs and more Albanians choosing to spend their holidays abroad because of competitive and often lower prices. Tour operators are also worried about the presence of urban waste in coastal areas, as well as relatively high prices of bank transactions, electricity and oil. “We are not competitive with regional countries considering that the current VAT rate is 20 percent at a time when 20 out of 27 regional countries have a VAT rate lower than 10 percent,” ATA representatives said earlier. Registration of the tourism businesses with the National Registration Center, a rating system for hotels, higher state funds on tourism, better promotional campaigns and waste management were some other requests ATA made to the Tourism Ministry.
