FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
When the tourist season is reaching its peak, there are many questions that arise: Why are the sunbeds left empty? Are there more or less foreign tourists? Has patriotic tourism come to an end? Is it abusive to raise prices and so on?
Tourism has literally been the lifeline of the local economy over the past few years. In the summer of 2020, high inflows of foreign nationals helped the Gross Domestic Product to record a minimal decline of 3.3% from around -9% that were the initial forecasts of international institutions.
In the following years, as Albania was in the focus of the international media for its beauties and foreigners were increasingly discovering the land of eagles, the high flows of arrivals clearly boosted consumption.
The "intervention" was critical for the country, which was suffering from immigration, mainly of young people, that accelerated after the pandemic. About 10 million foreign citizens who entered in 2023, although they did not manage to completely dampen the flow of Albanians abroad, still gave a positive effect.
In the first 5 months of this year, the arrivals of foreign citizens increased by almost 40%. Imagine how the economic indicators would be (apart from construction), if with this outflow of the local population we would not have had the entry of foreigners. Tourism, on the other hand, has boosted a number of businesses in the value chain, from support services, to transport, agritourism and agriculture.
Building permits for hotels in the 2018-2023 period, which coincides with the beginning of the tourism boom, were six times higher than in the previous 5-year period, according to official INSTAT data, creating a business model that has boosted employment , local economies and has attracted tourists from the simple to the most elite.
When the tourist season is reaching its peak, there are many questions that arise: Why are the sunbeds left empty? Are there more or less foreign tourists? Has patriotic tourism come to an end? Is it abusive to raise prices and so on?
The answers to these questions raise, in fact, a series of important issues that serve to guarantee sustainable tourism in the following period.
The data show that foreign tourists in the country are more numerous this year. According to Airdna statistics, the net-stays of foreigners in the first 6-months, through the Airbnb platforms in the country, have doubled compared to the same period of the previous year.
Those missing are the locals, as INSTAT recently said that around 500,000 Albanians have left in the last decade with an acceleration after the pandemic. Citizens from Kosovo are the most difficult to measure due to free movement at the border.
But, according to tourist operators, their flow has decreased compared to previous years, while the visa waiver has pushed them to other destinations. And this tendency was normal and expected. Both Albanian citizens and those from Kosovo were the most regular frequenters of the sunbeds, so there is no surprise that they are empty.
We must be aware that the model of the tourist has changed. The sunbeds, which have occupied almost all the possible spaces of the beach, will continue to be empty even if twice as many tourists enter.
Today's travelers don't stay in a tent all day. They want to explore Albania from North to South, get to know the tradition, taste the local food, and they are even "discovering" places that even we didn't know before.
Today's tourist cannot conceive how we have not yet solved the problems with garbage (which is not collected or burned covering the city with smoke) with the infrastructure, with the service, with the health service, or with the abusive increase in prices, as soon as there is little demand for added.
For the latter, be sure that they are more attentive than the Albanians themselves, especially the Italians who today are the second largest group after the citizens of Kosovo, with more than 10% of foreign arrivals.
Tourists cannot tolerate being stuck for hours in traffic, due to non-standard roads or under construction, or not being able to orient themselves with public transport, as there are no online timetable maps at the stations.
Gone are the days of patriotic tourism, or supporting only the locals. We can no longer take the tourist for granted.
Just as they were lured by advertising and posts with the beauty of the country on social networks, just as quickly all this can turn against us, if they do not reflect both the government, which is persistently looking for hostile groups, as well as businesses, which they have no problem abusing.
In a country with so much natural beauty and diversity, there will always be tourism, but how sustainable it will be and how much it will serve as a stimulus for the economy, this will depend only on us./ Monitor
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