TIRANA, June 8 – More than half of graduates in the tourism industry in Albania have not been able to integrate into the labor market, according to a survey conducted by USAID and Assist Impact.
The result unveils tourism businesses in Albania are mainly small family-run enterprises and there is a mismatch between market demand and supply for tourism professionals despite the government giving a top priority to the tourism industry. What’s more concerning is that only about a third of the tourism graduates are directly involved in the tourism industry.
Dissatisfaction with their status in Albania is unveiled by the fact that almost two-thirds say they would consider leaving the country in case of an opportunity to work abroad in the tourism industry.
“There should be intervention in finding a higher compatibility of skills acquired at school with the growing needs of the tourism market,” a USAID expert said during the launch of report.
The study unveiled that a degree in tourism is not a top priority for businesses operating in the tourism industry when it comes to hiring and there are few internship opportunities for students.
“Although tourism is considered as one of the main drivers of the country’s future economic development and has been placed as a top priority, there is a mismatch between this perception and orientation and the image of the tourism studies offered by public universities,” says the report which recommends internships, specializations and financing opportunities for newly graduates in the tourism industry.
“Universities offering tourism studies should make them more attractive to students so that they feel more motivated and safer in the branch they have picked both during their university years and after graduation,” the report adds.
Some eight public universities offer tourism studies in Albania.
With tourism on top of the agenda as one of the emerging drivers of economic growth, Albania has been actively promoting its coastal, mountain and cultural heritage tourism in a bid to become a year-round destination to compensate for construction and remittances-fuelled growth in the pre-crisis years.
The Albanian government is seeking to attract foreign investment in the tourism sector by offering potential investors state property in priority areas for a symbolic 1 Euro for up to 99 years in return for investment of more than €50 million. Travel income slightly rose to a historic high of €1.35 billion in 2015 when Albania was visited by 4.1 million foreign tourists.
London-based World Travel & Tourism Council says the direct contribution of travel and tourism to the Albanian economy was 87.6 billion lek (€625 mln) or 6 percent of the GDP. The sector directly supported 51,000 jobs in 2015.
