The end of August culminates with the departure of the majority of vacationers from the beaches, but it is different this season in Sarandë, where bookings have been extended due to favorable weather conditions. According to the operators, this season, there are bookings even in October. Most of them already make the balance of the tourist season.

The high number of mainly Italian vacationers this summer has given hotels and restaurants a breather, not repeating last year where even though the tourist presence was high, foreign vacationers were described as coming “with bread with them”.

“This year’s season was a relatively good season. The base of vacationers who came were mainly Italian, South-East European, we had Polish, and many other countries. The flow has been very high, to be honest, the city is not prepared for such a high turnover. This season is ending well, there are still people. The base of vacationers this year in Sarandë have been Italians, and Italians consume, are connoisseurs of sea products”, said Armando Magllara, tourist operator.

In the balance sheet at the end of August, the operators estimated that the lack of manpower increased the expenses for them, as they were forced to offer double the salary to fill the staff. But again, they did not find qualified staff.

“The minimum wage has reached 800 euros 800 dollars, so it is relatively good. The problem lies in the fact that we made the personnel payments, but the truth is that they do not have the proper qualification that we are looking for. So this is a contradiction that remains open”, said Armando Magllara, tourist operator.

For Magllara, Saranda is advertised as a very cheap destination, but it also offers other options for every request.

“The Ministry of Tourism, the Albanian state has done a very good job of advertising Albania’s assets, but by advertising that it is free tourism, and this is the main mistake, we don’t have free tourism, we have free tourism, we have average tourism and we have tourism that is served at a high level. We have hotels, we have restaurants that are higher than Corfu”, said Armando Magllara, tourist operator.

“The mistake is that they thought that with 400 euros you can spend a week, no, you don’t spend a week with 400 euros.”

At the end of the peak season, it seems that Saranda managed to attract tourists from all over the world, turning it into a destination for every category of visitor.