“Patriotic tourism” on the decline due to fierce regional competition

DURRES, May.22- The phenomenon of “patriotic tourism”, the influx of Albanian tourists form neighboring countries and from abroad, has decreased due to the aggressive regional competition for tourists. This is the conclusion of the recently held forum of Chamber of Commerce about Tourism. Despite increased investment in the country, other countries with access to the Adriatic and the Ion have better facilities and better programs to offer to tourists. Hence an example of Kosovars flowing into Montenegro instead of Duress last year has been confirmed. An investment of 2 million euros has been committed to Durres for this tourist season, according to head of Chamber of Commerce of Durres, Andrea Xhovara. Durres is the largest tourism destination in the country with yearly revenues of 120 million euro and normally sees 150.000 holiday tourists. A new vision for tourist operators is needed, according to Xhovara, in order to be able to compete with other countries. The forum has identified the main difficulties associated with the tourism sector such a poor infrastructure, short tourist season that does not pay off large investments, not enough marketing and advertising to attract potential tourists and the lack of vertical structures that could implement a tourism strategy.