Geographical position and climate favor Albania for developing the industry of tourism for the entire year. Offering the seaside, rivers for summer, and the high mountains with snow for the winter season. For more than one decade Albania has been a touristic attraction recommended by touristic operators worldwide.
Albania is ruled by Social Party, which won the third mandate on April 2021. The government is currently dealing with COVID-19 measures and preparation for the new touristic season. Prime Minister Edi Rama and his party highly support the tourism industry and see it as a sector growing. From 05 June 2021, Albania is accepting tourists without quarantine and PRC test on the point of the entrance but they have to follow the protocol for Covid-19.
Albanian Military Medical Unit is leading the campaign for the vaccination. Military Medical personnel is contributing everywhere that civilian hospitals have gaps or need support.
Tourism is one of the main sectors rapidly growing in Albania. This sector with the beginning of the pandemic situation was harshly hit. Tourists from outside the country were in low number compared to other years. Tourism has a huge impact on the Albanian Economy. Last year, the situation had a big impact on touristic operators, hotels, rental cars, and guesthouses. Uncertainty for the upcoming season is still present due to minimum reservation on the operators. These issues are not related to Albania only, but also globally. Albanian economy damaged in 2020 is expected to recover with a growth of around 5.1% in 2021. The World Bank expects Albania’s economic output to expand by 4.4% in 2021, it said, lowering its 5.1% growth forecast for the country’s economy made in January (World Bank 2021). Tourism and travel are likely to remain limited until global vaccination rollout is completed, the World Bank said. The problem is stated in the future of tourism in Albania.
Failing to recover the new season many touristic operators, flying companies, guesthouses, and rental services will go bankrupt. For instance, many families will lose monthly income, and unemployment will be another issue to deal with.
End-State desired is returning to normal seasons as soon as possible and change the situation as much as we can to save the tourism sector.
This problem happens as a result of a pandemic situation that included the world and is affecting not only Albania but all the region.
Measures taken from countries around the world to relieve the consequences of the Coronavirus impeded the normal movement of people. This resulted in the lowest number of tourists that visited Albania in the last decade. This phenomenon has been present since 2020 and it is still present.
Actually, for the pandemic situation, we are waiting for a policy to change throughout Europe. Regarding infrastructure, the government is working hard to improve it with a concrete reconstruction plan of the damaged area.
Ministry of Health and Social Protection is working with a long-term plan for the season to facilitate it. The plan is based on following strict measures recommended by experts and massive vaccination. Although Albania has taken action this issue is beyond our country because is connected with other nation’s restrictions. Even though we cannot have total control over this, some issues need to be addressed in a way to be competitive for the season. Training of season workers, improving the infrastructure in general, and offering the best service. If these issues are not resolved about 300 000 families will have an impact on their life. Unemployment will increase and as result, we will lose some qualified personnel.
First, one of the main priorities is the investment in knowledge and proficiency for tourism at all levels. Educating and training staff, with the ability needed is one of the most important concerns that government and private sector have to address. This campaign should be initiated by the government and followed by private enterpriser, touristic operators, and actors involved. Educational in knowledge, training, and specific courses about tourism issues and service. These activities should take place in certified training centers or academies. The private sector about tourism needs to come with a clear picture of how they would like to develop their business, what their immediate needs are to address, and how they intend to solve these issues. The government program on tourism for the second mandate “2017-2021” was focused on four touristic destinations: Albanian Alps, South of Albania, Ports, and Marina, and Tirana (Ministry of Environment and Tourism 2017). What we have seen so far is that the touristic operators have a lack of knowledge about how to professionally manage and deal with increasing touristic demand in the recent years to visit Albania. Lack of well-trained staff equipped with the knowledge to give clients attention requested and recognize the specific needs for the time visiting Albania. Identifying the issues that affect the quality of the service and lead to the weakness of the entire system is one of the primary jobs we have to do. “Referring to the INSTAT (2018) within the tourism sector operate 1 421 accommodation units, 1 122 tourism agencies, and 20 488 food and beverage enterprises, constituting 14.4% of total enterprises that operate in Albania. A number of around 656 hotels, restaurants and tourism agencies (comprising 2.8% of the total population).” (S. Domi, R. Keco and J.-L. Capelleras and Mehmeti 2019). Also, a big number of guesthouses and family businesses opened recently and operates in the tourism sector. Most of them are not registered and they are countless due to opening and closing often in accordance to market request.
2021-6-15-1623723847