With planning for the tourism season now in full force, how the elections are managed could either really help or really hurt the sector
By ANDI BALLA
Summer is getting closer, and as the economic climate tightens the budgets of families in western Europe and turmoil hits places like Egypt and Tunisia, many will be looking to Albania as a new and affordable to place to explore.
The problem is the local elections are between now and summer and depending on their outcome there could be a great impact on tourism. The outcome is not simply related to the results of the elections, but their ability to produce political stability of the kind that stops street protests and makes sure the political deadlock now gripping the country is either solved, or at least doesn’t deteriorate any further.
There is no easier way to drive tourists away than political instability, and if the elections are not handled well, the country might lose more than this single tourist season.
That’s because Albania had built a lot of buzz for itself in many circles when it managed to be ranked as the world’s top destination for 2011 by Lonely Planet. Then came Jan. 21, a very violent episode, which thankfully was prevented from deteriorating any further and the negative media coverage was somewhat limited. There is still a good chance many tourists will still opt for Albania’s sun and sand this summer. Even a large Italian daily newspaper ran a very recent article indicating there is interest by Italians, who have plenty of sun and sand at home, to vacation in Albania because of its affordability and novelty.
But if they find political turmoil, deadlock, street protests or local governments that don’t function because one side or the other won’t recognize the results of the elections, then they won’t come back, and they’ll tell their friends.
Despite the government’s line of Albania’s growing prosperity, the country desperately needs growth in areas like tourism, because it is already starting to see the first signs of a plummeting trend in remittances, money Albanians send from overseas. And while much of the tourism in Albania so far has been “patriotic tourism” fueled by Albanian immigrants abroad returning to spend time with their families or from ethnic Albanians in the neighboring countries of Kosovo and Macedonia, there is a need to bring more tourists from EU countries, due to the relativity of income. What is considered very affordable for a tourist from Germany or Sweden for example, would be out of the price range for an ethnic Albanian from Kosovo.
In the end, the political parties are aware of the phenomenon that it is easy to drive tourists away trough political instability. The government has tried to use it to blame the opposition that with its protests is creating the wrong image for Albania. The opposition has countered that is the government creating the problems by manipulating elections and corruption, and so on.
Foreign tourists won’t be interested in the details; they will only be interest in clean municipalities that run smoothly.
So if Albanian politicians needed any more incentive to keep these elections and what happens after running smoothly, here is another other one: playing typical Albanian politics could seriously hurt tourism and the livelihoods of tens of thousands of Albanians.
