Macedonians Invade Albanian Beaches

TIRANA, Aug 14 – According to the last expectations from the travel agencies and local authorities more than 200,000 Macedonian visitors are expected to pass their summer vacations in the Albanians beaches this summer.
We are not speaking of ethnic Albanians from Macedonia. No, not counting them. We are speaking of ethnic Macedonians preferring this year to pass their time in Albania, especially along its Riviera in southwest of the country.
Unconfirmed figures report that more than 100,000 Macedonians have come to Albania for their summer holidays so far this year. That is a significant increase compared to a year ago.
Their presence will make this summer season an excellent year for Albanian tourism.
One may ask why Macedonian’s have opted for Albania in such numbers.
In part that is because of continuing tensions with neighboring Greece over their country’s ongoing name dispute. Greece has yet to accept Macedonia’s name and there seems no final solution to the issue yet despite the international mediation. Besides news reports showed that Macedonians were attacked in a few separate cases when going to Greek cities.
Another reason could be due to soaring prices in Montenegro after it declared independence, and also Bulgaria, already a European Union member country. Albanian beaches are still ‘virgin’ ones and local income of the families accepts a lower tariff than they could find in Montenegro. While Bulgaria now asks Macedonians to apply for a visa when trying to enter that EU-member country.
Besides citizens of Macedonia are able to travel to Albania without visas, after the two governments have reached an agreement.
Bulgarian media, referring to Greek sources, reported last month that more than 88 percent of Macedonians prefer to pass their summer vacations in Albania.
They basically come to Durres, but many of them have now preferred the Albanian Riviera from Vlora to Saranda, where one can see hundreds of Macedonian-plate cars.
Many travel agencies in Vlora report good contracts with their Macedonian counterparts.
They find clean beaches and also many ancient sites to visit, though still lacking a better infrastructure, starting from the cuisine to roads and also a tourist culture.
Tourism has turned into very profitable businesses to all Albanian families living along the seaside.