The first nine months of the current year (2009) brought a record number of visitors to Gjirokast첬 reports the press (Gazeta Shqiptare, 20.10.2009). The news come from the mouth of the director of the Office of Coordination and Administration of Museum Wealth of Gjirokast첬 the city in which the Albanian world-celebrated writer, Ismail Kadare, was born. The director of the Office of Coordination and Administration of Museum Wealth (Zyra e Koordinimit dhe Administrimit t롖lerave Muzeale, ZKAVM), Rajmond Kola, asserted that 30,000 visitors have visited the southern city so far, which is almost three times more than in former years. There were 10,000 in 2008.
The director of the ZKAVM explains that the areas which are mostly frequented by the visitors are the museum zone, the characteristic houses and the centenary castle. The director of the ZKAVM, Rajmond Kola, sees however a number of problems in the development of tourism which should be rapidly solved like the charged traffic in the museum zone and lack of quality in services.
Summer and the Folkloric Festival
The rise of the number of visitors having visited Gjirokast철in the first nine months of the year is compliant to the general rise of visitors having visited Albania in 2009. The majority of the visitors in Gjirokast철have been registered in the summer months (July, August, September).
Though Gjirokast철has a rich cultural past and offers interesting elements from the point of view of architecture and history of old Albanian towns, it is not a sea-side city and the rise of the visitors does not follow the general trend of the rise of frequentation of Albanian tourist spots and resorts in 2009. What explains the rise of visitors in the southern city, is mainly the Folklore Festival of Gjirokast철which was held during the last weeks of September and which brought to the city not only numerous folklore bands but also large numbers of audience members. The fact that the number of visitors remained important or grew during September, out of the tourist season, confirms this.
The Festival, one of the most well known not only in Albania but also in the region, has been running at unsettled frequency in the last two decades. Different reports in the press say that the festival has been held at irregular intervals of three, four or five years.
The success of the Festival in bringing more people to the old city shows the need for designing and building up such cultural activities that can spur tourism. And this is true not only for Gjirokast첬 but for the whole of Albania.
Gjirokast철is a characteristic old stone-work town situated on a mountain-slope in the south of Albania. Gjirokast철is a UNESCO conservation site and is called “the museum city”. Gjirokast철was celebrated as the birth-place of the former communist ruler Enver Hoxha and has been and is celebrated as the birth-place of the world-celebrated Albanian writer, Ismail Kadare.
