The land of bunkers is undergoing a transformation. Albania is changing course to ecotourism for the rich.
27/02/2023
Albania is one of Europe's fastest growing tourist destinations. Now this country, at least as its representatives hope, wants to focus on alternative rather than mass tourism. According to the local government, this is exactly what will help it stand out from the competition. The small Balkan state, once hermetically sealed from the outside world, is becoming more and more popular. More and more people perceive it as a fashionable and exotic destination.
Last year, the country attracted 7.5 million foreign visitors, more than double its population. And also an increase in the number of tourists against a record 6.4 million in 2019. "Compared to ten years ago, Albania is now a completely different country," says the Albanian Minister of Tourism and Environment, Mirela Kumbar. The country is now slowly catching up with the losses it suffered since the covid outbreak. "Things change so quickly. The Albania of 2023 is full of positive energy," adds the minister.
The country now expects a tourism recovery to strengthen thanks to suppressed demand for travel by the pandemic. The government hopes to lure tourists with incredible value for money.We don't want a sun-sea model
Minister Kumbar worked in academia before her political career. He says that the planned tourism strategy for the future will not, however, support the increase in tourists. Instead, Albania plans to diversify a sector considered key to the country's economic growth. Moving away from the traditional "sun-sea" model offered by neighboring Mediterranean countries, Albania's leaders want to rebrand themselves as a top quality destination and reach new markets.We made several mistakes in the 1990s," the minister admits. She pointed above all to the stormy transition from the Stalinist dictatorship to democracy. "However, you cannot learn without mistakes: they are part of the process," adds the minister. It was in these unfortunate years that a lot of ugly hotels and other accommodation facilities were created in the country, which grew spontaneously hand in hand with the unregulated development of tourism, especially on the Albanian Riviera in the chaotic period after the fall of communism.
"As Minister for Tourism and the Environment, my role is controlling," says Kumbar. Albania can now, she said, be proud that it now has 7.5 million tourists. "Honestly, I'm not asking for more. I'm asking for quality so that people stay longer than the average three to four nights and come year-round. According to her, beaches are not unique. "What is unique about Albania is virgin, untouched, undiscovered," says the minister.Therefore, the country will now not support the usual beach holiday packages, but on the contrary, agritourism and ecotourism. For both, Albania has a prerequisite in the form of a diverse landscape, mountains, forests and also the coast.
"We are concerned with environmentally friendly, responsible and sustainable tourism. We don't want it to be concentrated only in certain areas, but to target cultural heritage, gastronomy, hiking, rafting, nature... There are already so many small farms in the country where people can go and enjoy all this," adds the minister .Across the border without a beard
Barely three decades have passed since Albania broke free from Stalinist rule. No other member of the former Eastern European communist bloc suffered such repression and isolation. Kumbar herself, now 56, lived most of her early life in a regime she vividly remembers. At that time, tourism was only allowed to the chosen ones. It was tightly controlled by the state tourism agency Albturist, which was tasked with developing the industry after Hodž's death in 1985. "Only about 200 people visited the country a year on very well-organized bus tours," he recalls. Even Albturist was under the watchful control of the Sigurimi secret police at the time.
Tourists were not allowed to use cameras, wear miniskirts or have beards. Men who entered the country during Hoxha's lifetime had to shave their beards at the borders and have their hair cut when the authorities deemed it too long.Only later, when the state began to cautiously open up, did the first buses from Athens begin to arrive in the country. They were mostly brought here by Greeks who had relatives in minority communities in the south of the country. Other tourists were only allowed here if they were thoroughly vetted before being granted a visa.
The tours went exclusively to the capital, Tirana, where visitors stayed in drab Soviet-era hotels. Further north into the dirty and poor highlands, travel was forbidden. The area served as a storage facility for political prisoners, whose numbers grew as Albania gradually separated from other communist countries. It was also the site of the infamous forced labor camps. "Everything was forbidden, even religion," says Kumbar, recalling the times when her grandmother was afraid to speak openly about her faith.
"For me, tourism is a question of emancipation. It opens doors for others and that's a wonderful thing," concludes Minister Kumbar, according to The Guardian.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2023/feb/24/albania-sets-its-sights-on-high-end-eco-tourism