Kosovo tourists spend Euro 200 mln in summer holidays

TIRANA, May 28 – Tourists from Kosovo who account for around half of total foreign tourists to Albania spend around 200 million euros annually in trips to Albania, Kosovo media report citing tourism experts.
“It is estimated that Kosovo holidaymakers spend around Euro 200 million on summer holidays each year in Albanian coastal areas,” says tourism expert Zeke ȥku as quoted by Kosovo’s daily Zeri.
Some 700,000 to 800,000 Kosovo tourists spend their summer holidays each year on Albanian beaches mostly in Durres, but also in northern and southern beaches.
Kosovo experts say that despite accounting for the majority of tourists and income, Kosovo tourists don’t get proper treatment in Albania with tourist accommodation owners artificially increasing prices when dealing with them.
An average Kosovo household is reported to spend around Euro 1500 on ten days of holidays in Albania.
Kosovo tourists accounted for 48 percent of the 3.4 million foreign tourists who visited Albania in 2012, according to the Tourism Ministry.
Last April, Albania was represented in the tourism fair held in Prishtina from April 17 to 19 by the National Tourism Agency with a special stand featuring its best tourist destinations, cultural heritage sites and gastronomy.
Anisa Sheldija, the director of Promotion and Foreign Relations at the National Tourism Agency described the participation in the Prishtina fair as very important especially to further promote Albania’s rich cultural heritage destinations, mostly known only by students who visit Albania at weekend trips which have become more frequent after the construction of the Highway of Nations linking the two neighbouring countries in the shortest possible way.
“Considering that Kosovo Albanians are more inclined to the sun and sand tourism, we are here to introduce to them our cultural heritage which to date is more popular among students,” said Sheldija.
Data from Albania’s Tourism Ministry show some 1.7 million Kosovars visited Albania in 2012 compared to 1.25 million in 2011.
In its annual report, the Tourism Ministry says 4.7 million people visited Albania in 2012 of whom 3.4 million were foreigners and 1.3 million migrants, who are described as non-residents holding Albanian citizenship. Data show some 65 percent of foreign 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.’
The Greeks account for 7 percent, followed by Italians with 4 percent and the Germans with 2 percent.
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 revenue have been on a downward trend since 2009 when it registered its peak rate of Euro 1.3 billion. Albanians’ spending in tourist trips abroad has also considerably shrank in the past three years despite the visa free travel regime in force since December 2010. 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.