Tourism is one of the worst-hit sectors by the pandemic. As the tourist season approached, the hotel industry is carrying out the last preparations to welcome tourists. Hotel managers hope that the situation will improve this year and told Euronews Albania some of the problems encountered so far.
“We hope that through massive vaccination the situation will have improved by June. I think there will be limitations in terms of welcoming foreign tourists but we’ll focus on neighboring countries such as North Macedonia and Kosovo. Reservations have started but due to the pandemic, it often occurs that they get canceled and this shows the insecurity of the agencies. We want the Albanian government to roll out the vaccines for the workers in the sector in order to guarantee better security for tourists that have chosen Vlora as their destination”, says Adnand Aliaj, the hotel manager.
Giorgio Barbieri, an Italian administering a hotel in Vlora for over 7 years says that there are high hopes for this tourist season.
“To me, the government is doing whatever it can, but it seems that something is missing, for example, local taxes on hotels have remained unchanged and I think that’s unacceptable”.
“I came with a lot of enthusiasm 7 years ago, I believe Vlora has excellent opportunities for tourism”, he added.
According to the head of the Southern Tourist Operators Association Vasil Bedinaj the measures taken seem to have triggered positive expectations, particularly for tourists from Ukraine and Poland.
“After a very difficult year for the tourism sector, Vlora has been seeing positive figures since March, especially during the weekends”, said Bedinaj.
He also spoke of the many problems that this sector faces and was pessimistic over the assistance provided by the Albanian government.
“Zero help from the Albanian government for tourism, I must regretfully say that many subjects, tourist and transport agencies have declared bankruptcy. Very few subjects have benefited from government loans, which didn’t differ much from normal second-tier banks in the country”, said Bedinaj.
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