Tourist products, the development of mountain tourism and the improvement of the quality of service and human resources in the industry will be the focus of the new strategy
TIRANA, May 15 – The Tourism Ministry has launched preparations to draft the new 2013 -2020 tourism strategy in an effort to give this promising sector for the Albanian economy a new impetus.
Speaking at the event, Tourism and Culture Minister Aldo Bumci demanded cooperation between local government structures and businesses to identify developments and issues concerning the areas they represent.
“This sector has great potential and this initiative is a challenge and great responsibility. I would like to stress that the ministry is committed in consolidating cooperation and dialogue between central and local government bodies and private stakeholders operating in the tourism industry and this cooperation is a necessity for the drafting of this strategy,” said Bumci.
Tourist products, the development of mountain tourism and the improvement of the quality of service and human resources in the industry will be the focus of the new strategy.
The necessity of drafting a new development strategy on tourism is based on the fact that tourism is considered an important sector of economic development and because of the fact that this is the last year of the previous 2007-2013 sectoral tourism strategy.
Speaking at the conference, deputy Economy Minister Enno Bozdo said regulatory plans and local government autonomy should be given a priority in the new tourism strategy for the next 8 years.
Despite being considered a priority sector, the Albanian government spends almost negligible amounts on tourism development. Finance Ministry data for 2012 show government has planned to spend only 107 million lek (USD 1 million) from a total budget of around 397 billion lek for 2012 which is 0.025 percent of the total budget. The majority of these funds are used for publicity campaigns.
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.
