Kosovars change Albanian coast, number of visitors rises by 25 per cent

The Statistics Institute reports that nearly 1.2 million foreign tourists visited Albania, increasing by 14.5% compared to July 2018.

The overall number of 7-month visitors reached 3.3 million, 12% more compared to the same period a year ago. The main effect on increased tourism during the season has given significant increase to visitors from Kosovo.

For July, their number increased by 25%, while for the 7-month month, it exceeded the threshold of one million. In proportion to last year, the number of visitors from Kosovo has increased by nearly 14%, and they make up about a third of the total number of foreign visitors.

Among other things, this shows that establishing the transition tax on the Nation's Road does not seem to have prevented the influx of visitors from Kosovo, at least so far.

The dual increase in July also registered the number of tourists from England, Germany, and Switzerland. Tourism from Western European countries remains on the rise even for this year, yet incoming tourism continues to rely mainly on the entrances of citizens from neighbouring countries, writes “cantv”.

Visitors from border countries make up about 60% of the total number of foreign visitors this year.

Summer season shows that the tourism sector is oriented toward another positive year, increasing its weight in the country's economy. According to the Bank of Albania, foreign tourists spent nearly 1.9 billion euros in Albania for 2018.

On the other hand, Albanian emerging tourism is also increasing at a high rate. According to Insta, exits abroad increased by 11% for July. For the entire 7-month period, Albanians registered a total of nearly 3.2 million visits abroad.