Tourism Revenues up Only 50% as Visitors Increase by 2.5 Times
The disproportion between visitors and revenues has been more obvious in the past couple of years when the number of foreign 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
Tirana Times
TIRANA, Aug. 30 – 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 a mere 50 percent. Tourism Ministry data show the number of foreign tourists visiting Albania from 2006 to 2010 increased by around 2.5 times reaching 2.3 million in 2010, up from 926,000 in 2006. Meanwhile, Bank of Albania data show revenues from tourism during this period have increased by only 52 percent, climbing to 1.2 billion euros in 2010, up from 805 million euros in 2006.
The disproportion between visitors and revenues has been more obvious in the past couple of years when the number of tourists to Albanian increased by more than 20 percent per year while revenues rose by 11 percent in 2009 and shrank by 6 percent in 2010.
One of the reasons behind these statistics is that a considerable number of tourists, around half of them, come to Albania as transit visitors or spend only a single day. Experts say that Albania needs to further promote and develop mountain and cultural heritage tourism in order to keep tourism and its revenues growing.
Infrastructure, service quality and waste pollution in tourist sites are some other issues which need to further be addressed. Albania currently relies mostly on coastal tourism and has the majority of its foreign tourists during summer.
Spanish international tourism expert Carmen Alt고Mach the Director of Innova Management, a consulting company based in Barcelona, told Tirana Times last December that Albania needs a sound legal framework regulating the sector, including provisions for foreign investment. Ms. Altes, who shared Spain’s successful tourism experience at a seminar organized by the Albanian Institute for International Studies (AIIS), stressed the need to insure proper land and urban planning, bringing the example of Durres which has been overcrowded with unplanned buildings.
Unfortunately, the situation in the southern coastal cities of Saranda and Vlora appears the same, although to a lower extent. However, prospects seem good as around 90 percent of Albania’s coastline remains virgin.
Protecting the natural and cultural assets, training human resources and conducting a well targeted marketing campaign are also considered key for tourism.
Albania’s announcement as the top travel destination in 2011 by Lonely Planet Guide and the sixth global destination by CNN experts proved a success for the country’s tourism industry during the first half of this year despite grim expectations following the escalation of the political crisis. This is also confirmed by data published by the Tourism Ministry which show the number of foreign tourists entering Albania during the first half of this year grew by 39.2 percent to 764 539, compared to 549,105 a year ago. However, around half of foreign tourists coming to Albania stayed for a single day or used Albania as a transit point. The majority of tourists coming to Albania during the first half of this year, were from neighbouring Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro, where ethnic Albanians are the major or second largest communities with local experts often referring to this sector of the market as ‘patriotic tourism.’
Data show tourists from Kosovo whose distance to Albania has been considerably cut following the construction of the Durres-Kukes highway accounted for 34 percent of tourists followed by Macedonia with 16 percent, Montenegro with 10 percent, Greece 8 percent, and Italy and Germany with 6 and 3 percent respectively.
Tourism Ministry statistics show 2.3 million foreign tourists classified as “visitors non-residents in Albania, holding foreign citizenship” visited Albania last year. Including immigrants holding Albanian citizenship but non-resident in Albania the total number of visitors in 2010 reached almost 3.5 million, the same as Albania’s population.
The number of hotels available to accommodate tourists grew to 290 with a capacity of 11,793 beds in 2010, up from 244 hotels with a capacity of 10,880 beds in 2009, according to INSTAT. Data show some 255,000 people were accommodated in hotels in 2010, of whom 74,000 were foreigners. INSTAT data show most foreigners, some 80 percent travel to Albania by land.
Albanian tourism has grown at a significant pace over the last few yearsנcontributing over US$ 2.4 billion in 2009 to the Albanian economy, with expectations to grow by 4% in 2011, according to statistics from the World Travel and Tourism Council. Over 200,000 Albanians are involved in tourism businesses and this number is expected to grow.
Despite the ongoing political crisis and violence worrying tour operators during the beginning of this year, tourism revenues continued to grow in the first quarter of 2011. Latest Bank of Albania show tourism revenues in the first quarter of 2011 climbed to 175 million Euros, up from 161 million Euros in the first quarter of 2010, registering an 8 percent increase.Albania’s travel and tourism competitiveness climbed 19 steps to 71st in 2011, according to the latest report released by the World Economic Forum covering 139 countries. Albania’s best performing indicators in the report were the affinity for travel and tourism, followed by safety and security at 44th place, and policy rules and regulations at 46th. The worst indicators were natural and cultural resources, which, in Albania, lack proper management. Price competitiveness in the travel and tourism industry which ranked 94th, as well as air and ground transport infrastructure were also noted weak points.
(BoA, Ministry of Tourism)
Year
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
No. of foreign visitors
926056 1,098765 1,330138 1,786045 2,302899
Revenues (in million of euro)
805 1,002 1,170 1,302 1,227
