TIRANA, Sept. 14 – Tourism revenue registered a considerable increase in the first half of this year ahead of the peak season in the third quarter of the year. Travel income rose by around 7.7 percent to €640 million in the first half of this year while Albanians spent about half a billion euros in trips abroad, leaving the key tourism sector with a positive contribution of only €140 million in the current account balance, according to the central bank.
Travel income slightly rose to a historic high of €1.35 billion in 2015 when Albania was visited by 4.1 million foreign tourists, according to Bank of Albania and INSTAT data.
With tourism on top of the agenda as one of the emerging drivers of economic growth, Albania has been actively promoting its coastal, mountain and cultural heritage tourism in a bid to become a year-round destination.
Investment in tourism resorts has recently revived by offering investors state property in priority areas for a symbolic 1 Euro for up to 99 years in return for investment and job creation.
One of Albania’s biggest companies, the Balfin Group, has been awarded two concession contracts by the Albanian government to build tourist resorts on the Adriatic and Ionian coasts.
Balfin Group, which operates in the construction, trade and mining sectors, plans to invest Euro 78 million in the two resorts in the Lalzit Bay, Durres, and the Palase beach in the southern Albanian Riviera. Several other foreign companies are also building resorts in Durres and elsewhere.
London-based World Travel & Tourism Council says the direct contribution of travel and tourism to the Albanian economy was 87.6 billion lek (€625 mln) or 6 percent of the GDP in 2015. The sector directly supported 51,000 jobs in 2015.
