For 2012, the Tourism Ministry reports a record 3.4 million foreign tourists, up 26 percent compared to 2011, visiting Albania which is 21 percent more than the 2.8 million resident Albanians identified by the latest population census in 2011
TIRANA, Jan. 22 – Albanian continues having a disproportion between the number of tourists visiting it and revenues generated from it. Tourism Ministry data show Albania was again visited by more tourists in 2012 but Bank of Albania statistics reveal tourism revenues continued their downward trend for the third year in a row. The ongoing disproportion implies either the Albanian government is intentionally increasing the number of arrivals or tourists to Albania affected by the crisis in their host countries are spending less.
For 2012, the Tourism Ministry reports a record 3.4 million foreign tourists, up 26 percent compared to 2011, visiting Albania which is 21 percent more than the 2.8 million resident Albanians identified by the latest population census in 2011.
Meanwhile, the country’s central bank reported tourism revenue dropped by 5 percent in the first nine months of the year. In its annual report, the Tourism Ministry says 4.7 million people visited Albania in 2012 of whom 3.4 million were foreigners and 1.3 million migrants, who are described as non-residents holding Albanian citizenship. Data show some 65 percent of foreign tourists come from Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro where ethnic Albanians are the majority or second largest communities with local experts often referring to this sector of the market as ‘patriotic tourism.’
The Greeks account for 7 percent, followed by Italians with 4 percent and the Germans with 2 percent.
Albania’s archaeological parks and museums were visited by 1.4 million people in 2012 generating 47.6 million lek.
Tourism revenue/expenditure
Tourism revenue also continued its downward trend in 2012 despite government reporting a rising number of tourists visiting Albania this year. For the first nine months of 2012, the Bank of Albania reports income from tourism dropped to 876 million euros, down from 884 million euros during the same period in the previous year. In July-September 2012, the peak of the tourist season, tourism revenue, dropped by 5 percent to 445 million euros.
Hit by crisis impacts and on a saving trend, Albanians also spent less in tourist trip abroad during the first nine months of 2012. In the first three quarters of 2012, Albanians spent Euro 747 million, down from Euro 864 million during the same period in 2011.
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.
While the number of foreign tourists to Albania during the past five years has more than doubled, revenues from tourism, the most promising industry for Albania, have increased by only 50 percent. The disproportion between visitors and revenues has been more obvious in the past couple of years when the number of tourists to Albania increased by more than 20 percent per year while revenues rose by 11 percent in 2009 and shrank by 6 percent in 2010.
