The liberalization of visas for the citizens of Kosovo has brought the first impact on the attendance of the coast of Durrës. Once the most loyal vacationers, today Kosovo Albanians have relegated it to the background, as a destination for their summer vacations.

“This year has started differently. We can call it a good start, because it started very early, that is, from the end of March to the beginning of April, the first reservations with foreign tourists from organized groups of Germans and Nordics, who are seeing Albania as a destination new and very interesting, but the difference is that there is a lack of Kosovar tourists, who were our loyal tourists, who have supported us in every difficult period. This happened directly after the opening of visas, so Kosovar tourists preferred to explore Europe a little and somehow neglected Albania. This was felt a lot in the hotels of Durrës, which filled their weekends with tourists from Kosovo”, says Blerim Norja, tourist operator.

According to the tour operators, the created vacuum has been filled with foreign tourists, who have been numerous in the coastal city since the beginning of this season.

“We can say that it has been replaced by the increase of tourists from foreign nationals, of whom the majority are Germans and Norwegians”, says Norja.

The first tourists of this season are mainly tourists who come organized in groups with closed packages, but the number of elite tourists, who come in small individual or family groups, is also seeing a rapid increase.