The Tourism Sector In Albania

The touristry Sector In AlbaniaAlbania is a parliamentary republic, where the legislative power belongs to the Albanias Assembly and the straits of the state is the President who is elected by the Assembly for a five division mandate with the right to be re-elected. The Council of Ministers is the highest executive and commanding organ which is say by Prime Minister.According to Census 2011 preliminary results Albania has a population of 2,831,741 inhabitants in a surface of 28,748 sq km. Albania is located in the Hesperian part of the Balkan Peninsula. The earth has a 750 km borderline with Montenegro to the North, Kosovo to the Northeast, Macedonia to the eastbound, Greece to the South and Adriatic Sea and Ionian Sea (Italy) to the West.Albania has Mediterranean climate, which is characterized by hot summers and mild winters with abundant rainfalls. The period from June to September is hot, turn from October to May is cool and wet. The average annual temperature varies from + 15oC in the north to + 16.5oC in the south. The hottest month is July with an average temperature of + 25oC and the coldest month is January with an average of +6oC, although the record temperature has been -34oC. For almost 45 age the communist regime, which was installed in Albania after the Second World War, left the verdant aside the rest of the world macrocosm part of the communist bloc of the easterly europium. The communist regime of Tirana even went further by isolating Albanian people totally and brought the countrified to collapse. With the fall of communist regimes of the Eastern Europe, Albania was the last one and only(a) to join the free world. A democratic system was setup in power in 1992. Due to governments commitment to a free market economy, the estate undertook a programme of reforms and make abundant efforts to recover from the fall of communist regime. However, the collapse of the fraudulent pyramid schemes in 1997 and the instability that followed w ere a tremendous coke for Albania. But the country did pursuit its way toward its dream, to be part of the European community. Till there country has made a great progress. Two expectant achievements are accomplished, in June 2006, the Albanian Government signed a Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with the European Union (EU), the first step in the EU accession process and three years later, in April 2009, Albania became a NATO member country. Now country is looking to accessing negotiations to be an EU member country. A telescope of reforms are progressing markedly over the last decade to Albanias economy and administration much(prenominal) as reforms in nucleotide development, tax collection, property law, business administration, judgeship system.The country was largely spared from the severe fallout of the 2008-2009 financial crisis since its economy is not heavily integrated into the Euro-Atlantic system.Economic progress of the country has slowed but remained positive, in each(prenominal) year from 2009 to 2011. The governments main task is to maintain positive economic growth while preserving macroeconomic stability. Major challenges are the difficult fiscal and budgetary environs and the crises in the Eurozone, especially in neighboring Greece and Italy ( study trading partners of Albania with a large presence in the banking sector and as well host to roughly one one thousand million Albanian emigrants).In 2011, gross domestic product was estimated to have reached close to $13 billion. Major contributors to GDP according to 2010 preliminary data were service sector with 57.6% including trade, hotels, and restaurants (20.9%), transport (6.3%), communion (3.4%), and other services 27% agri glossiness 20.3% industry 11.3% and construction 10.7%.In 2011 unemployment officially stood at 13.3%. Half of the workforce is considered self-employed in the agriculture sector.GDP per capita in 2011 is estimated to have reached $4,560. Althoug h GDP per capita has steadily increased over the years, the country still ranks as one of the poorest countries in Europe according to major income exponents.Albania has station in place a liberal foreign investment regime, and the government is working to modify the business climate through fiscal and legislative reforms and infrastructure improvements. Foreign direct investment (FDI) has increased significantly over the last few years and in 2010 reached $1.1 billion, up from $262 million in 2005. Since 2005, the Government of Albania has invested to a greater extent than $2 billion in the countrys main road corridors, and it has pledged to continue investing heavily in improving transportation infrastructure. Electricity supply has also improved due to investments in new transmission lines and new generation sources as well as the privatization of the distribution system, which is gradually increasing efficiency.The EU form Albanias main trading partner, providing 64.1% of Al banias imports and receiving 72.5% of exports as of December 2011. Trade with Italy and Greece continues to represent the largest share of EU trade, with a combined 41.1% of imports and 58.3% of exports in 2011. Other major trading partners take on Turkey, China, and Germany. The impact of CEFTA in Albanias trade with member countries has been small.2.1.2 touristry in AlbaniaThe Potentials for tourism Development in AlbaniaAlbania is a small country but a lovely and fascinating country with substantial touristry development authority. Albania has an attractive coastline and a rich cultural and natural heritage. As touristry Strategy on market-gardening and Environment1has highlighted, country has a wide range of diachronic, cultural and natural attractions that are of great recreate to supranational tourists. The same assessment is made to the countrys real rich culture and heritage by finis Marketing Strategy2 chronicle, too, stressing that Albania has a very rich, dist ractive, and authentic culture and heritage from the Greco-Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and other historic periods up to the modern day. This assessment is mentioned also to verbatim comments from interviews with western tour operators and travel writers3, where one of them have citied that Albania is an archaeological site from tip to toe, going pricker to Illyrian settlements, Greek colonies, Roman occupation, not to mention the invasions from Goths, Bulgars, Byzantines, Crusaders of the Holy Roman Empire and Ottomans who all but stopped time in tracks. Evidence of these civilizations are all over in Albania, and its time to let the world see the great and wondrous sites... Albania has 3 World Heritage Sites Butrint, Gjirokaster and Berat. Beaches are long and sandy with hot braw summers with about 250 sunny days. The mountain areas fracture opportunities for niche tourism activities like hiking, biking, canoeing etc. Plenty of National Parks and other natural reserves offer ec ological experiences. Country offers beautiful and diverse landscapes and abundant and varied flora and fauna.Current tourism marketsSince the late 1990s, after the 97 instability in the country and 99 war in Kosovo, tourism activities are increasing. As figures4show there is a considerable increasing payoff of international visitors after the year 2000, due to the improvement of regional and inner country political climate and enhance of the security in the country. A big impact to the increase of the unite of tourists from Kosovo has show the new highway linking Albania with Kosovo. Even this increasing numbers are impressive, the tourism sector in Albania cannot be regarded as being well passing-developed. foot has been till late a major limitation. The government in power has evaluated the development of infrastructure as very important and is investing heavily in improvements5.Data from the table below shows thatTotal foreign visitor traffic increased by 18.4% in 2010 compa red to 2009 to 3,612,000 visits. Taking into consideration the crisis time this is an excellent murder for Albanian tourism. 33% were non-resident Albanians and 66.1% were foreign staying visitors in 2010. Much of the increase came from Kosovo. This is evident to see the impact that the new highway with brought to Albanian tourism, a clear indicator of strong growth created by improvements in infrastructure.According to MoTCYS data, for the year 2011 a total of some four million visitors entered in Albania. They included 2,734,000 foreign tourists and 1,267,000 non-resident Albanian nationality visitors.The figures demonstrate that the biggest increase of foreign tourists in 2010 was coming from Kosovo with 48.79% followed by Macedonia with 11.43% compared to 2009. The foreign tourists from western countries havent made such a big progress. Also, as can be seen, the number of non-resident Albanians has been increasing in 2008 and 2009, while in 2010 the figure has faced a decrease. From the table below can be seen the increasing number of visitors in July and August. Such a phenomenon is shaping drastically the seasonality of tourism in Albania. In 2010 the number of tourist that visited Albania in these two months was 55.44% compared to the number of all visitors. Also, another task related to these figures is the high dependency in Balkan region tourist flow. This demonstrates that the tourists in July-August are coming only for sea and sand and populating only the coastal areas.strategic directions for tourism at national levelAccording to National Strategy for Tourism Development in Albania 2002 2012, developed with the assistance of GTZ, the main tourism products for Albanian tourism are defined sun and sea, business and special interest tourism6. dapple the Strategy and Action Plan for the Development of the Albanian Tourism Sector Based on Cultural and Environmental Tourism was developed within the directions and structure established by the 2002 Tour ism Development Strategy 2002-2012 for Albania.This inventory provides a new orientation for the government to position Albania as an attractive destination for tourists seeking a unique experience which encourage them to discover Albanias culture and spirit. Discovery of Albania is a presentation of a broad cross-section of Albanias history, nature, archaeology, living culture, cuisine and hospitality. The graphic below presents a simple schematic.Core and Specialised Tourism ProductsSource Strategy for the Development of the Albanian Tourism Sector Based on Cultural and Environmental Tourism. Ministry of Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports, UNDP December 2005According to strategy document, Albanias upshot (primary) tourism product must be a general one that encourages visitors to discover the many facets of Albanias culture and nature. Albanias central product will be the denudation of Albania. The product is a presentation of a broad cross-section of Albanias history, nature, archaeology living culture, cuisine and hospitality. Visitors combat-ready in this discovery will leave with a lasting impression of the diversity, complexity and beauty of culture and the land. This segment does not make a strong distinction between cultural, natural and other tourism products. Visitors in this segment tend to combine many different activities during their visits, and usually see the various natural and cultural activities as part of the process of discovering the destination.Referring to the major market segments mentioned above, the tourism resources in Albania are in favor and fight the types of community-establish tourism, i.e. nature-based tourism, adventure tourism and cultural tourism. Considering these tourism resources, the following types of activities can be developedNatureVisiting national parks and protected areasViewing wildlifeSeeing rare speciesTrekking, hikingBicycle tripsEducation and learningParticipation in local events andRiver and lake explo ring.CultureVisiting cultural and heritage-related attractionsVisiting museums and art centresMeeting with artistsMeeting people from various ethnic nationalitiesSeeing local handicrafts and the process of making themVisiting beautiful landmarks and religious sitesTrying local foodParticipating in local traditional ceremonies and festivalsBuying traditional crafts and local specialties.Potential to development Albania offers infinite potential to investors to take advantage of unexplored opportunities in tourism, and helping to develop this industry into a key strategic sector in the countrys economy.Albania has a young population, with a high level of instruction and able to communicate with foregners in defferent languagies.Albanian is located at short distances from the main European capital cities and albanians are kind and very hospitable people. The improved Rinas international airport, and different ports from the north to the south easy the access to the country. The conti nuing improvement and development of the infrastructure in the country, is facilitating sorrowful inside the country.Continuing improvements are being made to encourage investors to develop the infrastructure for tourism in Albania.Just like other countries in the western Balkans, Albania has put into place legislation and investment initiatives designed to support the economic growth of the country compatible with European policies and working principles. The Albanian Government has made support of the current and future expansion of tourism a priority, with the goal of transforming the country into a Mediterranean tourist destination and placing it on the world stand for of tourism.In an effort to support the continuing development of the tourism industry in Albania and to make this country a tourist destination, the importance of the active strife of the local and international Business Community and strong Partnerships between community based organizations, government and re gional development agencies is a must.Internal transport is probable to remain a major limitation for tourism in the foreseeable future except perhaps for road transport along key highways where upgrading / reconstruction is already planned or committed. In the WEF jaunt and TourismCompetitiveness Report, Albanias tourism infrastructure is rated in the bottom two in the region(See circuit board 2.2).In recent years there has been an increasing interest from incoming foreign tourists, especially with significant increasing numbers of international tourist groups generated from Croatia and Montenegro, organise in one or two days tours to Albania.Also Business and Trade tourism accounts a considerable number of foreign visitors. Neighbour countries, such as Italy, Greece especially are related to trade and business purpose of visit of their nationals.From the western tourists visiting Albania in 2006, are identified those arriving from Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Greece, USA, C anada, France, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, Scandinavia, Switzerland, the neighbouring countries and regions (Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonian, Bulgaria), East Europe (Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Russia).Diaspora is another source for the inbound tourism, where the ethnic Albanians from Kosovo do count considerable numbers. The new road under construction from Milot (the crossroad to the highway Tirane-Shkoder) to Morini (the boarder-crossing point with Kosovo) will influence to increase the numbers of Kosovos citizens to access the Albanian coastal area.The market profile of visitors who enter to Albania by road from Muriqani and Hani i Hotit (the boarder-crossing points with Montenegro) with interest for Shkodra region for the year 2006 is as belowForeigners who are living and working in Albania have also recently started to create an internal tourism demand. While there is no official record on domestic tourism in Albania, domestic tourism is the dominati ng form of tourism. This is mainly focussed on beach centred holidays.1.3.2 National context for Tourism DevelopmentAlbania has a great potential for tourism development based on its natural, cultural and human resources. The country has an attractive coastline, rich biodiversity with lagoons, lakes and the mountain areas each with unique flora and fauna, unspoiled nature and attractive scenery, cultural and historical sites and interesting traditional life-styles. The country consequently has the potential to develop the types of tourism products that are in demand from the international market in the Mediterranean region.Beside to the long and sandy beaches along the Adriatic coast and these bumpy ones with crystal and clean sea waters of the Ionian coast, its natural and protected areas are basic for developing niche tourism activities such as eco-tourism and nature based activities. Such an activities can be hiking, trekking, walking, horseback-riding, river rafting, paraglidi ng, mountain biking, climbing, canoeing, sightseeing, bird watching, fishing. Rural green and agri-tourism offers new opportunities for communities to benefit from tourism by offering visitor experiences based on traditional lifestyles. Albania also can offer cultural tourism through its archaeological sites and historic cities and villages.Albania is a short distance destination for Europe it is within 3 hours of flying time of most major European cities and therefore is a short haul destination for the potentially huge European market, the World tourism Organisation predict that by 2020 the Mediterranean Region which includes Albania will be a hotspot for tourism, thus there is a great potential for Albania to develop and expand its tourism industry.On the other side, uncontrolled development in tourism areas has harmed the potential of these areas for tourism development. Even the measures taken by the government to legalise the illegal constructs are not considering for the mom ent those constructed in tourism areas, it is not clear what will be the measures taken in these areas to improve the environment by the harm of illegal buildings.Some significant measures are taken recently by the government. These measures, at the national level, encompass strategy and form _or_ system of government documents such as, the development of the Strategy for Cultural and Environmental Tourism in 2005 and the development of a new tourism website in 2006. A new Tourism Law (Nr.9734, dated 14.5.2007) was adopted by the parliament and a number of regulations canonical by the government is thought to regulate the tourism sector development.Tourism development is the responsibility of the MoTCYS (Ministry of Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports). NTA (National Tourism Agency) is an autonomous body outside the MoTCYS, being responsible for promotion activities through the production of promotional materials and participation in the international tourism fairs. The most attend ed fairs, regularly from years in Berlin (ITB) and London (WTM), and to RDA (Keln) from 2007. At the regional level, six tourist information offices are approved to be established in Tirana, Shkodra, Vlora, Saranda, Kora and Durres.At the national level there are operating two business Associations for Tourism Travel Agencies and one Association of Hotels. A GTZs project on Institutional building of tourism private sector in Albania is in the process for the time being with the aim to establish a strong representation for all the sectors involved in tourism, with the common interest providing services to the members as well as building relationship and cooperation with the public sector.Albanian RourismEven the figures on tourist arrivals are growing considerably year after year in Albania, the country has remained highly dependant on summer holidays. Looking on the statistical data published recently in the websites of Ministry of Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports (http//www.mtkrs .gov.al/) and of National Tourism Agency (http//www.akt.gov.al/akt/text.php?id=1lang=1), is good evident that the number of visitors visiting Albania succeeded 2.5 million in 2008 and only for the period January August 2009 this figure was over passing 2.1 million. As reported by MTCYS, the number of visitors in 2008 (2.578.627 visitors) is compound as international visitors 1.330.138, from which 1.247.125 were overnight visitors and 83.013 same day visitors, and 1.248.489 visitors were Albanian nationals residing abroad. While the number of visitors for the period January August 2009 (2.111.981 visitors) is compound as 1.402.558 international visitors and 709.423 Albanian nationals residing abroad.But does this picture speak for real success in the development of Albanias tourism as a tourist destination visited by the western tourists? We have to bear in mind that the main reason for the development of tourism is attracting foreign visitors from countries with strong currencies . Tourism is considered a hidden export that brings bills (hard currency) to the country.Referring to the Strategy and Action Plan for the Development of the Albanian Tourism Sector Based on Cultural and Environmental Tourism produced by Ministry of Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports with the support of UNDP in 2005, Albania will specialize in attracting educated, independent travelers and specialized group travelers. The principal target markets will be upper-middle income individuals from Europe (primarily northern Europe and the coupled Kingdom) and North America. This segment represents the demographic segment with the highest willingness to pay for Albanias unique products, and whose spending patterns will most contribute to advancing development goals. Also, in this strategic document is specified that Albanias central product will be the discovery of Albania. The product is a presentation of a broad cross-section of Albanias history, nature, archaeology, living culture, cui sine and hospitality. Visitors participating in this discovery will leave with a lasting impression of the diversity, complexity and beauty of the culture and the land. The question is this Are these kind of tourists visiting Albania lend to this strategic direction? The answer is, NO.