More than half of the tourists who visited Albania last year were “patriotic vacationers.” Data from the Ministry of Tourism and Environment shows that out of about 10 million in total by the end of November, over 5.7 million tourists were from Kosovo, Montenegro and North Macedonia.
"This shows that we are far from elite tourism, and at least for the moment we are at the point of quantity over quality. This despite the numerous investments that have been made, especially in the south of the country, but also in Durrës," Flora Xhamani Baba, a tourism expert, tells A2 CNN.
Despite visa liberalization, vacationers from Kosovo did not "betray" Albania. Data shows that between January and November, nearly 4.2 million Kosovo Albanians visited the country, a figure that is 38 percent of the total.
"They continue to prefer Albania. Not only Durrës and Shëngjin, which they consider their home, but also further south. Some of them have not come for vacation, but simply have a vacation, but have simply used Albania as a transit country," Jetmira Hoxha, a tourism expert, tells A2 CNN.
After vacationers from Kosovo, Italians rank second for the highest number of vacationers with over 1.1 million, followed by North Macedonia, Montenegro and Greece.
"They are permanent tourists who come all 12 months of the year. Especially the Italian ones," says Flora Xhamani Baba. "One reason is the increase in flights, especially with Italy, from "low cost" airlines. Cheaper tickets consequently increase the number of tourists," says Jetmira Hoxha.
As a result of tensions that escalated into armed conflicts, Israel and Russia are the two countries with the biggest drop in holidaymakers last year. The list is followed by Croatia, Norway and Finland.
Data from the Ministry of Tourism and Environment shows that last year the country was visited by 11.7 million foreign vacationers, up from 10.1 million in 2023. The increase is estimated at 1.6 million or 15.8 percent.
(A2 Televizion)
A2 CNN Livestream
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