Police reports more tourists entering Albania

TIRANA, Aug. 8 – While the tourism ministry has not published data on tourists visiting Albania this year, the Albania State Police reports a considerable increase in the number of visitors to Albania during this summer. More than 1.77 million people, both Albanians and foreigners, entered Albania from June 1 to July 31 2012. The majority of around 1 million were foreigners while 715,000 Albanian, mostly migrants, police said in a statement. Compared to June-July 2011, police report an increase by 139,000 people entering Albania. Kosovars and Macedonians dominate the foreign tourists list followed by Macedonians, Greeks, Italians and Germans.
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.
Official data published by the Tourism Ministry show some 4 million non-residents visited Albania in 2011, of whom 2.7 million foreign tourists and the remaining 1.2 million Albanian migrants residents abroad.
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.