More visiting Albania on health tourism purposes

TIRANA, April 17 – While most foreigners visit Albania to spend their holidays and on business trips, a rising number although yet negligible visits Albania on health tourism purposes considering the country’s competitive prices and improving private sector services especially dental and plastic surgery ones.
Data published by state Institute of Statistics INSTAT show some 1,188 people visited Albania on health tourism purposes in 2012 compared to only 425 during 2011.
Tariffs on dental and surgery services in Albania stand below the regional average and are two to three times lower compared to developed EU countries.
Tourism on religious purposes also attracted some 1,500 foreign tourists compared to 1,708 in 2011.
Three months ahead of the general elections, Prime Minister Sali Berisha has accepted a perennial request by tourism operators to reduce the 20 percent value added tax and pass a law that excludes investments in mountain tourism from taxes for seven years.
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.
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 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.
For 2012, the Tourism Ministry reports a record 3.4 million foreign tourists, up 26 percent compared to 2011, visiting Albania which is 21 percent more than the 2.8 million resident Albanians identified by the latest population census in 2011.