Euronews Albania’s correspondent from Shkoder, Teodor Gjerga was happy to start off by saying that Shkodra is reawakening as tourists have already started coming back boosting the city’s life.
Fortunately, the mountain village of Theth, which had been blocked by the snow is now open and up and going once again. Theth is widely visited by tourists or locals wanting to hike or take a deep breath of fresh air in the beautiful Albanian alps.
As Gjerga pointed out, because of the electoral campaign and the pandemic, this summer season didn’t particularly start off on the right foot either.
In addition, our correspondent in Korca, Xhensil Shkembi told Euronews Albania that a novelty in Korca this season, is the reservation of many foreign companies for the months of July and August, to stay in hotels and guesthouses around the beautiful and fresh-aired South-Eastern city.
Apart from the fresh air, not overly high temperatures and beautiful nature, cultural activities are also attracting more visitors to Korca. Shkembi also reported on the lake city of Pogradec, a few kilometers away from Korca, which has already started receiving groups of tourists, despite the fact that the season officially kicks off on June 6th.
Euronews Albania’s correspondent in Vlora, Ebrieta Maçaj affirmed that for several weekends now, the beautiful coastal city has been full and working with 99% capacity.
Tourists coming mainly from Kosovo, Ukraine, Poland and Belorussia are flocking in the city of Vlora, filling up restaurants and hotels. EU member states are less present at this point in the holiday season, because of travel restrictions, which continue to be in place due to the pandemic.
Macaj explained that one of the main issues that needs to be addressed by government authorities is the regulation on turning down the music at 20:00 p.m. as well as business opening-hours, which can only go until 22:00 p.m., something which has been the cause for many complaints by businessowners and touristic operators.
However, it seems that this issue will also see a prompt solution, after the meeting of the Committee of Experts tomorrow.
“In terms of vaccination, around 35% of the touristic operators have been vaccinated. There is great interest and since the beginning, the vaccination process has been received positively so that the holiday season can begin and tourists can feel safe coming to Albania,” reported Macaj.
And continuing with Euronews Albania’s correspondent in Saranda, Viktor Avdiaj, who focused on the aspect of service – something that has been ready and going for quite some time now, in the southernmost coastal city of Saranda.
From the looks of it, people are walking around the boulevard of Saranda once again, just like they used to before the pandemic, so this gives rise to the hope that everything might just go back to normal.
“Based on information we get from our touristic operators; the months of July and August continue to be booked. In addition, during these first days of the holiday season, there are many groups coming into the city, but nothing major yet,” – reported Avdiaj.
Our correspondent in Saranda couldn’t go without mentioning the launch of the tourist season in the neighboring district of Gjirokaster as well, on May 29th and in Tepelena on June 2nd – in both cities, locals are expecting a great start of the season and a heartwarming summer ahead.
