TIRANA, Jan. 12 – The mayor of the Macedonian town of Ohrid, Alexandar Petreski, has said he opposes changing visa regulations for Albanians. According to a Bulgarian news agency, Petreski claims new visa requirements would negatively affect his city where hundreds of thousands of Albanian tourists come every year.
Speaking to the Focus news agency, Petreski expressed his opposition to changing the visa regulations for foreign citizens, which currently are issued the embassies and consulates of Macedonia instead of at the border checkpoints.
Petreski is also a chairperson of the Euroregion – Macedonia, Albania and Greece. The municipalities of Ohrid, Struga and Debar will send a letter to the government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the demand for canceling the decision for issuing visas for Albanian citizens to be done in the embassy in Tirana instead of at the border checkpoints.
“The consequences from this change would not be felt only in Ohrid. This is the Euroregion – Macedonia, Albania and Greece. A few municipalities are included: Ohrid, Struga, Bitola, Resen – from the Macedonian side; Pogradec and Korca – from the Albanian side; and Voden and Folorina from the Greek side. We have made great efforts over the last few years to revive this region. The municipalities on the Macedonian side, through the Ohrid lake and the border checkpoints, are bordering to Albania and are to a great extent dependent on the tourism and trade with this country,” said Petreski.
The practice of tour operators shows that there has been a great number of tourists from Albania, Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece, according to Petreski.
Regional tours now account for about 40 percent of the total number of tourists. Such tours also return a few times each year. Results show that revenues of Ohrid from tourist fees is eight times larger compared than two years ago.
“The new visa regime with Albania would negatively affect the development of tourism in Ohrid. Struga and Debra would also be affected. They now make a huge trade exchange with the border regions in Albania. This means that the decision of the government would have negatively affect 60,000 citizens of Ohrid, 70,000 citizens of Struga and 40,000 citizens of Debar. If Albanian citizens stop visiting Macedonia due to the visa regime, this would affect 200,000 citizens of our region who deal with tourism or trade,” he said.
Petreski said they “expect the government would postpone its realization if there is no possibility for its full cancellation. There is no need for the decision to come immediately into effect. We consider that the visa regime may not be needed if both Macedonia and Albania join NATO.”
