TIRANA, Oct. 6 – More and more Albanian tourists are choosing Turkey as their destination to spend their holidays.
A record 13,532 Albanian spend their summer holidays in Turkey in August 2015, compared to 12,699 in August 2014 and 10,703 in August 2013, according to data published by Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
Albania’s travel agencies say that Turkey has emerged as one of the top destinations for Albanian holiday makers in the past few years due to its famous resorts offering all-inclusive packages which also include charter flights.
Neighbouring Greece is apparently the top destination for Albanian tourists for their summer holidays also due to price reductions fuelled by its prolonged crisis but no data is available on the nationality of tourists.
Turkey’s tourism ministry says a record 56,288 Albanians picked Turkey as their travel destination in the first eight months of this year, compared to 52,628 during the same period in 2014 and 43,649 in January-August 2013.
Back in 2014 some 76,273 Albanian tourists visited Turkey, up 17 percent compared to 2013.
Albania’s tourism revenue recovered in the first half of this year, but Albanians cut spending on trips abroad as the economy continued suffering sluggish consumption.
Spending on trips abroad registered a considerable decline in the first half of this year when it dropped to 474 million euros, down from 555 million year during the same period last year, registering a considerable 15 percent decline.
Albanians cut spending on trips abroad to 895 million euros in 2014, down from 1.1 billion euros in 2013.
